Tiger Fan's online league dynasty - Page 12

Tiger Fan · 01-23-2021, 08:56 PM

KINGS 1935 DRAFT PICKS DAY TWO

Second half of the Kings draft had a heavy local look with three of the 4 selections coming from Brooklyn or New York City. For the entire draft five of the Kings 9 picks were either born in or attend school in New York including a pair of Brooklyn boys in outfielders Jack Hill (Hamilton HS) and Bob Mullins (Tilden HS).

Other local selections includ New York natives Jake Wood (Henry Hudson University) and high schoolers Terry Cox (Henry Hudson Prep) and Ike Ray (Collegiate HS). The Kings also selected a pair of Ohio born players in first rounder Dan Rogers out of Canton South High School and 8th round selection Jimmy Gibbs, a pitcher from Cleveland's Collinwood High. Rounding out the picks were a pair of Texans in Houston native Tip Harrison, taken from Bluegrass State University and Port Arthur High School pitching sensation Gus Parker.

Code:


RD  NAME	  POS  HOMETWON		SCHOOL
 1  Dan Rogers	  RF   Canton, OH 	Canton South HS
 2  Tip Harrison  SS   Houston, TX	Bluegrass State
 3  Jake Wood	  LHP  New York, NY	Henry Hudson University
 3  Bob Mullins	  CF   Hartford, CT	Tilden HS, Brooklyn
 4  Gus Parker	  RHP  Port Arthur, TX  Port Arthur HS
 6  Jack Hill     LF   Brooklyn, NY	Hamilton HS, Brooklyn
 8  Jimmy Gibbs	  RHP  Cleveland, OH	Collinwood HS, Cleveland
 9  Terry Cox	  SS   New York, NY	Henry Hudson Prep HS, New York
10  Ike Ray	  C    New York, NY	Collegiate HS, New York

ROUND 4 PICK 62: GUS PARKER RHP, PORT ARTHUR (TX) HIGH SCHOOL

Parker was rated the 16th best pitcher and 62nd overall by Kings Scouting Director John Spears and 62nd is exactly where Brooklyn drafted the 18 year old righthander. He was 11-1 with a 1.36 ERA for Port Arthur High School and possess four pitches with the best of them being his changeup. He is 6'4" and OSA feels Parker has a ceiling of an ace. Spears likes him but is not anywhere near as high on Parker, figuring he might crack the bottom of the rotation.

ROUND 6 PICK 94: JACK HILL OF, HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL, BROOKLYN

Rated 90th by John Spears but came in at #50 in the final OSA mock draft. The Kings were thrilled to add the local kid and Spears feels he has a chance to contribute at the major league level. He has committed to Cumberland University but when contacted seem very excited to be drafted by his hometown team. He hit .494 in 23 high school games but only 2 homeruns although OSA feels the power will come and he has the potential to hit 20 a year once he grows into is 6'2" frame.

ROUND 8 PICK 126: JIMMY GIBBS RHP, COLLINWOOD HIGH SCHOOL, CLEVELAND OH

Spears is high on the diminutive 18 year old from Cleveland, feeling he has decent control and a solid slider in his four pitch repertoire. The ceiling for Gibbs is likely the back end of the rotation. He was 4-0 with a 1.72 era in limited action his senior year at Collinwood High School. Gibbs has committed to Bluegrass State.

ROUND 9 PICK 142: TERRY COX SS, HENRY HUDSON PREP, NEW YORK, NY

Another local kid as the Kings made it a priority to focus on Brooklyn area players. Surprisingly Cox has not committed to Henry Hudson University but instead will play for Chesapeake State if Brooklyn is unable to sign him. OSA raves about his speed and his ability to make contact while Spears likes his range but notes he has some trouble scooping balls out of the dirt. But he is young and will have plenty of time to develop in the Kings minor league system. He was ranked 111th on John Spears' board and I had him as a round 4-7 prospect in what was a deep class of shortstop talent.

ROUND 10 PICK 158: IKE RAY C, COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL, NEW YORK, NY

The trend of drafting local continues with the addition of the 18 year old catcher from New York City. Ray has committed to Topeka State University but is expected to sign with the Kings. John Spears had him ranked 108th on his board in what was a weak group of catchers aside from the couple of high end guys at the top. OSA is optimistic Ray could develop in to an everyday catcher in FABL but Spears feels he is more likely to be strictly a back-up. He hit .400 with 3 homers in 20 games for Collegiate HS.

The remaining 15 rounds of our draft in Figment Baseball will be done on autodraft in game.

INITIAL DRAFT ASSESSMENT

Overall I like a number of the picks we made but I can't help but think this draft could have been incredible for the Kings, had I made some slightly different decisions. To start with I mentioned Bob Donoghue was the guy I really wanted in round one but I had no control over that as he was selected by Boston before my pick came up. At that point I took another outfielder with power potential in Dan Rogers with the hope the pitcher I really wanted - Jack Goff, son of our bench coach Danny Goff would be available in round two. Goff was snapped up by Toronto early in the second round and the Wolves, under interim management by the league office after the team's executive group went awol, thwarted me at every turn this draft. Names to remember that Toronto took and were guys I was considering but went another option hoping they would last one more round included college pitcher Charlie Philips, who I had traded up for only to see him go one pick prior, and college outfielder Alf Pestilli, who I decided to wait one more round on and took Bob Mullins instead. Pestilli is the oldest of three Italian immigrant outfielders who all some to have great potential, especially the middle brother Sal, who was named National College Player of the Year as a freshman.

So Kings fans should watch the careers of Jack Goff, Charlie Philips and Alf Pestilli very closely and wonder what might have been. Hopefully Dan Rogers, Tip Harrison and the rest of my picks make me forget the three I missed on as we go forward.

Finally, I say it every draft in this league but there is nothing like the challenge and fun of a FABL draft. The owners are great as we completed 10 rounds on slack in two days and unlike a league with ratings visible, stats only makes every draft choice an agonizing debate on who to choose and you can very easily land a superstar with a middle round pick, meaning every pick we make means something.

If you are enjoying this dynasty and the many others about the league on the dynasty board and you are not already on the league waiting list, what is stopping you?

Tiger Fan · 01-25-2021, 09:41 PM

KINGS COMPLETE 1934 DRAFT CLASS IS INTRODUCED

The first 10 rounds of our 25 round draft are done by human GM's and then the game AI takes over to finish off the draft. Not an overly impressive group of final 15 for the Kings but here is who we ended up with in the 1934 draft.

Code:


RD  NAME	   POS  HOMETWON	       SCHOOL
 1  Dan Rogers	   RF   Canton, OH 	     Canton South HS
 2  Tip Harrison   SS   Houston, TX	     Bluegrass State
 3  Jake Wood	   LHP  New York, NY	     Henry Hudson University
 3  Bob Mullins	   CF   Hartford, CT	     Tilden HS, Brooklyn
 4  Gus Parker	   RHP  Port Arthur, TX      Port Arthur HS
 6  Jack Hill      LF   Brooklyn, NY	     Hamilton HS, Brooklyn
 8  Jimmy Gibbs	   RHP  Cleveland, OH	     Collinwood HS, Cleveland
 9  Terry Cox	   SS   New York, NY	     Henry Hudson Prep HS, New York
10  Ike Ray	   C    New York, NY	     Collegiate HS, New York
11  Hal Reynolds   CF   New York, NY	     Maryland State
12  Bill Ramsey    LHP  Philadelphia, PA     Gratz HS, Philadelphia
13  Jimmie Field   3B   Brooklyn, NY	     Wilkes-Barre HS, Wilkes Barre, Pa.
14  Rudy Finch     LHP  Minneapolis, MN      Minneapolis HS
15  Tommy Morris   C    Howell, MI	     Howell HS
16  Sam Burnham    2B   Newman, GA           Torrance HS, Torrance, California
17  Barney Murray  LHP  Detroit, MI          Chadsey HS, Detroit
18  Jim Bob Turner RHP  Roanoke, AL          Roanoke HS
21  Ismael Suarez  RHP  Bayamon, PR          Gompers HS, Bronx NY
22  Homer Tait     3B   Greensboro, NC       North Carolina Tech
23  Babe Musgrove  RHP  Hemet, CA	     East Texas State
24  Joe Dickinson  C    Glassboro, NJ        Tulsa HS, Tulsa, OK
25  Rube Devaney   1B   Manhattan Beach, CA  College of San Diego

I won't talk about each of the final 15 as very few are expected to progress far in our system but I will mention a few. Let's start with the local products and I like that the AI GM continued my trend of drafting Brooklyn area players.

HAL REYNOLDS- The New York City native who played his college ball at Maryland State debuts at #37 on our team prospect list. Our 11th round pick, Reynolds has a bit of power according to our scouting director John Spears and is a very solid defender in center field but the concern is his ability to make contact. Spears does think he might have a chance to be a reserve player in the big leagues.

BILL RAMSEY- 12th round pick has his heart set on college and playing for Red River State. He is listed as impossible to sign but I made him an offer and we will see what happens. He possesses a 6-pitch arsenal but none are considered exceptionally strong.

JIMMIE FIELD- Like Ramsey, our 13th round pick is looking to college having signed a commitment letter with baseball powerhouse Eastern State. Born in Brooklyn but grew up in Pennsylvania, scout John Spears loves his athleticism but feels he will be unlikely to contribute at the big league level.

TOMMY MORRIS - Our 15th round selection is rated the number 3 catching prospect in the organization, one slot ahead of Ike Ray, who I drafted 5 rounds ahead of Morris. Scouting Director John Spears feels the Howell, Michigan high schooler should develop the ability to contribute at the major league level, but more of a supplement than a star.

SAM BURNHAM - Our 16th round pick immediately becomes our top second base prospect (24th on the team list overall) but that is by default as we have very little young talent at second. John Spears thinks he can hit .300 if he gets a shot in the big leagues so he just might get to Brooklyn some day. The 18 year old hit .485 for his high school team in Torrance, California. Was born in Georgia but family moved out west when he was young.

HOMER TAIT- Our 22nd round pick out of North Carolina Tech cracked the OSA top 500 prospect list, landing at 411 and number 19 on our team list. He may drop out of the top 100 once all of the other draftees sign but it is nice to see such a late round pick make the list, even if it's just temporary. Tait hit .315 for the Techsters as a junior last season and has decided to forego his senior season and turn pro.

JOE DICKINSON- I was considering Dickinson as my 10th round pick but settled on Ike Ray instead so it is nice to land him here in the 23rd round. He runs well for a catcher, has a good batting eye and plays decent defense. He hit .414 for his high school team in Tulsa last season. By the way, early results show I made the right choice in taking Ray over Dickinson as Ray ranked 4th among our catching prospects while Dickinson is listed 9th.

RUBE DEVANEY- Our 25th round pick cracked the top 500 league-wide prospects at 474. The first baseman from College of San Diego hit .298 with 5 homers for the Friars last season. The scouts like his ability to make contact and say he could develop average power.

SIGNING UPDATE

Most of our top picks have asked for a signing bonus and we have made offers to all of them and are hopeful everyone except for 12th round Bill Ramsey will sign. 8th round Jimmy Gibbs and 10th round pick Ike Ray are the only ones I selected who signed immediately and we received great news on Gibbs as the 18 year old from Cleveland adds to our deep group of talented pitching prospects by being ranked 148th overall in the current OSA top prospects list. Ike Ray did not make the top 500 and is ranked 4th among our catchers.

The big news will hopefully come in the next couple of days as we see were our higher round picks slot in on the league prospect rankings. It should change quite a bit as the new guys sign but here are the Kings top 20 prospects as of early December, 1934.

Tiger Fan · 01-26-2021, 12:10 PM

December 24, 1934

KINGS MOVE CLASS A AFFILIATE

The Brooklyn Kings long-time relationship with the city of Omaha has come to an end as the Kings have decided to relocate their Class A affiliate to Springfield of the Heartland League. Brooklyn was not the only team to leave the Western Baseball League as Detroit and Toronto also moved their affiliates due to a growing competitive disadvantage. According to Kings Assistant General Manager Jim Golden it was just becoming to difficult to field a team that could compete in that loop as the five independent teams all had sufficient revenue to sign a boatload of of former big league and AAA players.

"We could have gone the same route and stocked Omaha with higher level talent but it would have been at the expense of developing our young players to one day play in Brooklyn," explained Golden. "We have been associated with the Cowboys for decades and enjoyed great success in Omaha but unfortunately we had no choice but to relocate our affiliate. We wish the city of Omaha and the ownership group of the Cowboys great success as they continue as an independent team. The Cowboys won 2 Western League and 5 Heartland League titles while an affiliate of the Kings.

For Brooklyn it is a return to the Heartland League where the Cowboys once played. The Springfield club, known as the Hustlers, joined the Class A loop in 1929 and have yet to win a pennant but they did finish second in 1933. Toronto and Detroit also shift to the Heartland League with the Wolves assuming control of the Davenport Dusters while the Dynamos will be the parent club of the Terre Haute Brewers.

KINGS SIGN ALL BUT ONE DRAFT PICK

The Brooklyn Kings are pleased to announce that all but 12th round selection Bill Ramsey have agreed to contracts with the club and will join the organization. Ramsey is the lone exception, as the lefthander from Gratz High School in Philadelphia is set on continuing his education. Ramsey will play for the Red River State Rowdies college club based in Denison, Texas.

With most of the top draftees now under contract the Kings received some very good news from OSA on the overall prospect rankings as 7 draftees are ranked in the top 236 prospects in the league including a pair in the top 100. First round pick Dan Rogers, an 18 year old outfielder from Canton, Ohio tops the list at 51st overall and 10th among all outfielders. Second rounder Tip Harrison, a 23 year old shortstop from Bluegrass State is 9th at his position and 68th overall.

Others include 18 year old lefthander Jack Wood, a New York City native, who is ranked 84th on the list after being selected with the Kings first pick of the third round. With their second third round selection Brooklyn drafted centerfielder Bob Mullins from Brooklyn's Tilden High School. The 19 year old comes in at 166th on the OSA prospect list. Fourth rounder Gus Parker, an 18 year old righthander out of Port Arthur, Texas slots in as the Kings 9th best prospect and 177th overall. 8th rounder Jimmy Gibbs, a high school righthander from Cleveland, Ohio is 210th and 6th rounder Jack Hill, who played his high school ball at Brooklyn's Hamilton High, is 236th on the top prospect list.

NO MOVEMENT IN RULE FIVE DRAFT

The Kings were quiet on the rule five draft as they did not claim a player, nor did they lose anyone. They may not be so lucky in the minor league phase which is being conducted today.

GM TIGER FAN STAYING PUT

The Toronto Wolves general manager position has opened up but there is absolutely no truth to the rumour that Brooklyn boss Tiger Fan is moving north. A year ago he had been rumoured to be on his way out after a pair of terrible starts to the two previous seasons but after Brooklyn's run to within a game of claiming the Continental Association pennant the GM and owner Daniel Prescott have patched up their differences and Tiger Fan plans to remain in Brooklyn in an effort to lead the team to it's first World Championship Series.

Tiger Fan has been at the helm of the franchise since the winter of 1926 and guided the club to a pennant in 1927 and a pair of second place finishes but the Kings are the only team in either the Continental or the Federal Association that has never won the World Championship Series.

"I feel we have unfinished business here," stated Tiger Fan, " and I intend to stick around and complete the job. There is absolutely no truth to any rumour I might wish to move back to my native Canada and take on the task of rebuilding the Wolves."

The Wolves have not had a winning season since 1927 and have not finished higher than sixth since then.

Jiggs McGee · 01-28-2021, 08:55 PM

February 4, 1935

WILL THIS FINALLY BE THE YEAR FOR KINGS FANS?

courtesy of the Figment Sporting Journal

As long suffering fans of the Brooklyn Kings know all too well, their beloved ball club is now in a class by itself. Unfortunately, it is not a class you want to be a part of and after the Cleveland Foresters finally ended 42 years of waiting for a World Championship Series victory, the Kings stand alone as the only one of the 16 Federally Aligned Baseball League franchises to never win a World Championship Series title. Brooklyn has given it's fans three Continental Association pennants with the most recent one in 1927, and then came so agonizingly close last season to getting a chance to end their WCS drought, only to fall a game short of the Foresters and have to settle for second place.

The Kings club that takes the field in two months time is expected to be virtually identical to the one that charged back from 8 games behind the Foresters in July to take the lead in early September only to see Cleveland get red-hot and close out the pennant win on the final day of the season. Brooklyn's team may well be the most talented club the franchise has ever assembled so anything short of a trip to the Series in October will have to be considered a failure.

The problem for Brooklyn fans is Cleveland certainly feels the same way. The Foresters gutted their farm system to load up on veteran stars like Max Morris (.320,26,123), T.R. Goins (.349,12,87) and Charlie Berry (.325,15,96). The move paid off and they got their title but, while the window might be closing soon, it remains wide open this season for the aging Cleveland stars to look for a return trip to the Series. The offense, while aging, should be just as strong as it was last season and the pitching rotation led by 25 year old Dean Astle (17-7) and 27 year old Roger Perry (19-9), is in it's prime. Add in the fact that the distractions created by soon to be former club owner Elmer Marshall and his threats to move the team are gone, and this Cleveland team can now focus entirely on a repeat victory.

The Chicago Cougars may also be a threat with a lineup full of mashers of their own, including Tom Taylor (.294,31,116), Joe Masters (.315,18,109), Doc Love (.325,21,98) and Lou Kelly (.301,16,109). However the absence of ace Tommy Wilcox, who likely won't be able to return until at least July after blowing it his arm last summer, may mean the Cougars will have difficulty keeping pace with the Foresters and Kings this season. Fear not spoiled Chicago fans, who won pennants in 1931 and 1933 and a WCS in the first of those title years, as the Cougars system is loaded with blue chip prospects and they will be a team to fear if not this summer then likely in 1936.

The Philadelphia Sailors were a mini-dynasty to end the last decade, winning 3 straight pennants and a pair of WCS between 1928-30 but since then they have been stuck in the purgatory that is mediocrity, finishing fourth or fifth each of the past four seasons. Neither the Sailors or the New York Stars should ever be counted out. The Stars won three straight World Championships from 1924-26 and another one in 1932 before falling to third each of the past two seasons.

The Montreal Saints have shown glimpses of success every so often but they ultimately sink to the second division every year but things might be different now that they have a new General Manager after the previous boss mjj55409 split for the Chicago Chiefs of the Federal Association. Fellow Canadian club Toronto also has a new GM as JaBurns left the Chiefs for the chance to run a team in his native country but he may have bitten off more than he can chew as the Wolves have been bad, historically bad for close to a decade. Over the last 7 years Toronto's record is 417-661 for a .387 winning percentage. The Wolves lost 105 games in 1932 and 104 in 1930, a mark of futility only surpassed one other time (108 by the 1911 Philadelphia Sailors) in either the CA or the Fed since FABL began in 1893. The Wolves will battle the Baltimore Cannons, a team that will be entering year two of a full blown rebuild this April and started that rebuild by finishing with 100 losses, the most in either league a year ago.

Which leaves us with your beloved Brooklyn Kings. The Kings biggest obstacle to a pennant will once again be the Foresters but Brooklyn enters the season with an almost identical roster to the one that they finished last year with. There are very few holes in the lineup. The offense was the most prolific in the Continental Association and the pitching rotation had three great starters by year end. The only question marks are can the key players duplicate their achievements of a year ago?

Questions like:
Is third baseman John Langille (.359,10,100), who challenged all year for the batting title before settling for second place, the real thing or just another 1 year wonder in the Kings quest to find a reliable third sacker? The bet here is Langille will man the hot corner in Brooklyn for years to come and even make some trips to the all-star game.

Can Doug Lightbody (.371,7,85) stay healthy? After a pair of injury plagued seasons the 30 year old came back with a vengeance this past season, winning the second batting title of his career and enjoying his most productive season since 1930. The key was Lightbody did not spend a single day on the DL. Can that happen again? I would be less certain of that and apparently the Kings are as well as they hedged their bets by acquiring veteran corner outfielder Joe Perret (.322,14,88) from the New York Gothams over the winter as insurance.

Are Harry Barrell(.344,3,81) and Jake Shadoan (.340,14,81) going to be the best middle infield tandem in either league over the next decade? Barrell certainly will be a star and a Whitney Award or two might be in his future but there are concerns in Brooklyn about Shadoan's work with the glove and the 26 year old may eventually need to be shifted to first base but that would mean benching Harry's brother Dan Barrell (.329,11,97), a player who seemed to will himself to becoming a dominant ballplayer in his late twenties after being out of baseball for 3 years earlier in his career.

Will the starting pitching hold up? That has always been the question in Brooklyn but the trio of Tom Barrell (29-3), Mike Murphy (21-7) and Ken Carpenter (19-8) were dominant a year ago. It seems unlikely Barrell will approach 29 wins again as the question surrounding him is whether last year was the stepping stone that takes the 26 year old to stardom in this league or was it the pinnacle of what will turn out to just be a decent career? Age is the big worry with Carpenter. He will turn 37 during the season but made the all-star team for the second straight year and insists he is in the best shape of his life and loving baseball in Brooklyn. Mike Murphy is 27 and while he may not win twenty every year, he looks like he should be a very strong #2 starter for the foreseeable future.

Who are the number four and five starters? It was a problem last year finding depth in the rotation. 30 year old Joe Shaffner, a New York City native, returned home after a midseason deal with St Louis but he was inconsistent for the Kings down the stretch. Brooklyn gave up a prize pitching prospect in Dixie Lee to acquire Shaffner and they need him to perform this season for the club to be successful. The other option was also a trade deadline pickup last summer but 37 year old Max Wilder, who was acquired from Boston, hurt his shoulder early in his time with the Kings and never got untracked. If one or both of those two struggle the Kings will likely need to start working the phones to add another arm, or hope that either Art White or Bob Cummings - a pair of highly touted prospects- are ready to step it up and contribute to the rotation.

Brooklyn certainly looks well poised to contend once again and fans in Brooklyn are hoping for the parallels between 1926-27 and the current edition of the club to continue. The 1926 team rebounded from a last place finish the year before to finish second, just two games out of first. They were led offensively by a hotshot rookie named Doug Lightbody and added a pair of veteran arms at the trade deadline in Mose Smith and Del Plummer, only to see one them injured shortly after being acquired and the Kings had to settle for second. The 1934 club still had Lightbody but the hotshot rookie was John Langille. They also added two veteran arms in Shaffner and Wilder only to lose one of them with an injury which helped prevent them from winning the pennant. The 1927 season was a dogfight, with 4 teams finishing within 2 games and the Kings ultimately winning their third pennant by just one game over Philadelphia and Toronto and two up on Cleveland. That might be a little too much suspense for Kings fans to suffer through after last season but they would love to see a result that finally gives their team a chance to erase the ignominy of being the club to never win a World Championship Series.

A lot will change and certainly did a year ago with all of the teams making deadline moves but the early line of thinking from this reporter is it will be another down to the wire race between Brooklyn and Cleveland.

Tiger Fan · 01-31-2021, 03:28 PM

LITTLE EXPECTED TO CHANGE WITH 1935 KINGS ROSTER

This is the 10th season I have been in charge of the Brooklyn Kings and the first time I can recall where I really had no battles expected for starting roles in spring training. Odds are we will likely pull the trigger on some sort of deal before the deadline at the end of July but right now I am extremely comfortable with our current roster and feel we have the talent to win the pennant. The challenge will be for everyone to stay healthy but I am hoping we have enough depth to withstand most injuries and still a deep enough farm system to pull the trigger if we need to add a top talent to fill a void caused by injury.

Here is a look at the expected roster which is going to be nearly identical to the one that finished a game back of Cleveland in last year's Continental Association pennant chase.

CATCHER - FRED BARRELL (.280,9,81) is 29 years old and firmly entrenched as our everyday catcher. He was an all-star last season and was MVP of the 1931 World Championship Series when he played for the Chicago Cougars. A terrific defensive catcher and solid with the bat. 31 year old BILL SMITH (.264,0,12) will remain the backup although that is in name only as Smith is certainly capable of starting in this league.

FIRST BASE - DAN BARRELL (.329,11,97) continues to amaze us at how he made himself an above average big league hitter in his late twenties. Now 30 years old he is a key weapon for us at the plate but remains a defensive liability.

SECOND BASE - 1929 first round pick JAKE SHADOAN (.340,14,81) led the CA in hits for the second year in a row last season and received MVP votes. He is listed as the 6th best second baseman in FABL but that is not because of his offensive skills, which are top notch. Defense, on the other hand, can be an adventure but the former second team All-American from Liberty College is improving in that regard.

SHORTSTOP - HARRY BARRELL (.344,381) is just 21 but already a two time All-Star and the best shortstop in the game. He is not only one of the best pure hitters in the sport but also a defensive wizard at shortstop. Harry's 9.2 WAR last season was the highest in either association. There are a pair of back-up infielders that will likely both make the trip north once with the big club once again in RABBIT MUDD (.297,2,30 at AAA) and WALT LAYTON (.244,0,5) with both being capable defenders at either second or short.

THIRD BASE - JOHN LANGILLE (.369,10.100) nearly won the batting title as a 23 year old rookie and brought much-needed stability to a position that has always haunted the Kings. He is presently ranked as the 10th best player in the sport and behind only Frank Vance of Detroit among third baseman. BUCK SARGENT (.205,3,10) and NICK WALLACE (.269,0,4) will battle in the spring to see who sticks as the backup. Sargent has some power potential (19 homers in 134 FABL games) so he will likely get the nod.

LEFT FIELD - The one position where their might be a bit of competition for playing time. The Kings acquired veteran JOE PERRET (.322,14,88) from the New York Gothams over the winter with the idea he could platoon with incumbent ART SUMMERS (.282,8,84) and provide insurance if rightfielder Doug Lightbody had any injury troubles. It will be a platoon unless one of the two establishes himself as a clear starter.

CENTER FIELD - 22 year old BILL MAY (.264,4,39) was called up midway through the season and struggled early but looked very good down the stretch. He is one of the best defensive centerfielders in the game and as long as his progress at the plate continues May will be a perfect lead-off man. He was acquired from Montreal along with John Langille in the 1933 deal that sent Milt Fritz to the Saints. Veteran JIM GENTRY (.308,2,46) is a more than capable backup

RIGHT FIELD - 31 year old DOUG LIGHTBODY (.371,7,85) won his second CA batting title last year and was finally healthy again after two injury plagued seasons. He is the face of the franchise and one of the best hitters in the game when healthy, but he has missed a lot of time over the years with various ailments. Defense has been a concern but he was actually not too bad last year. 30 year old AB THOMAS (.306,1,43) is terrific with the glove and a natural center fielder but he can spell Lightbody when needed, as can the newcomer Perret.

PITCHING ROTATION - The plan is to go with a 4 and a half man rotation with Allen Award winner TOM BARRELL (29-3, 2.96) and MIKE MURPHY (21-7, 2.84) each going every fourth day. Veteran KEN CARPENTER (19-8, 3.64) is 36 years old now and has 204 career big league wins under his belt but he will get an extra day rest here and there instead of going every 4th day. Filling out the rest of the rotation will be veterans JOE SHAFFNER (17-14, 3.29) and MAX WILDER (9-10, 4.46), each was acquired in mid-season deals a year ago. If anyone falters prospect ART WHITE (7-9, 4.24) at Rochester may be ready to step in or the Kings will look to add a veteran arm if needed.

BULLPEN - 29 year old DEL LYONS (5-3, 2.54) made the all-star team a year ago and will once again share the work in the bullpen with HAL GALVAN (11-8, 2.93), who is still going strong at age 42. Art White will likely end up here as well along with one of several decent arms from Rochester a year ago such as ART BLAKE (11-3, 2.62 in AAA), GEORGE DEFOREST (3-6, 4.43 in Brooklyn) or FRANK PARSONS (7-2, 2.89 in AAA).

This club really is the strongest I have ever had but it still wasn't one win shy of what we needed a year ago. I don't plan on making a major move but am certainly prepared to sacrifice draft picks or youth to get something we need. With the ages of our key stars we likely have a several year window for title runs with the core group but the Kings are all-in on winning the Series this year.

TC Dale · 01-31-2021, 05:00 PM

You know what sucks? Not being able to read this greatness, and not click the thanks button to let you know how much I enjoy it! I miss the button, but, I dont like to miss any of your ongoing series!

Tiger Fan · 01-31-2021, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC Dale

You know what sucks? Not being able to read this greatness, and not click the thanks button to let you know how much I enjoy it! I miss the button, but, I dont like to miss any of your ongoing series!

I miss it as well but I greatly appreciate your comments. Thank you.

Tiger Fan · 01-31-2021, 08:54 PM

This is taken from the Figment Sporting Journal's Bio of the day but because it focuses on Brooklyn owner Daniel Prescott I feel I should cross-post it here. This bio of Prescott was inspired in a big way by the great job DD Martin is doing developing the personality of his Cleveland Foresters owner.

MEET BROOKLYN KINGS OWNER DANIEL PRESCOTT

Daniel Prescott, owner of a successful bottling and canning business, assumed ownership of the Brooklyn Kings baseball club in 1929 after it was sold off by the Presley family following the death of patriarch Malcolm Presley. Malcom or his brother Reginald Presley had been the owners of the Kings ballclub since 1898.

Daniel Karl Prescott was the third of four children born to bottling and brewery owner Wilfred Prescott and his wife Marta Krueger Prescott. His older brother Frederick would succeed their father as the president of Prescott Bottling and Brewery upon the senior Prescott's passing in 1918 just as Wilfred had followed his own father in heading the family business which had been formed in the 1850s. Daniel's maternal grandfather Wilhelm Krueger had been the chief brewmeister for the business and that is what brought his parents together and eventually Daniel's younger brother Elmer would become a world class brewmeister himself. The fourth child was a sister named Anna, who was 2 years younger than Frederick and just over a year older than Daniel and 4 years Elmer's senior.

Daniel had a great mind for business but his true love was athletics. It did not matter the sport, if it was competition Daniel wanted to participate. While not blessed with great natural talent, Daniel was not lacking for enthusiasm on the sporting field, so much so that rather than follow his brother and attend prestigious Henry Hudson University, Prescott pleaded with his father to allow Daniel to study at All Hallows, a smaller school in New Rochelle, for the primary reason that he would have a much better opportunity to play varsity sports for the Saints then he would for a powerful team like Henry Hudson University. His father finally relented allowing Daniel to enroll at All Hallows in the fall of 1899. Daniel would make school baseball team as a reserve outfielder. He would later describe himself "as a weak hitting, poor fielding player with a lack of speed" and the few that might have observed All Hallows play a game would certainly not dispute that assessment. Prescott was on the squad for three seasons but played in just a handful of games. Although it was not an official sport at the time, Prescott did have a little more success on the hardwood and participated in several exhibition games for the Saints Basket Ball, as it was known then, team.

When his college days came to a conclusion and with a degree in business, Prescott set out to make his mark in the family industry. While Reginald was focusing on the brewery side of the business, Daniel saw a great opportunity in the bottling end of the operation and was very successful expanding it to supply bottles and cans for many different beverage and food manufacturers in and around New York City. Daniel also never lost his passion for sports and his first foray into professional ownership was with the Brooklyn Prescott Brewers, a what would generously be called 'Semi-Professional" basketball team in the Atlantic League, a short-lived collection of basketball teams comprised mostly of former college players from the area, that existed between 1911 and 1924. Prescott even suited up for a couple of games himself in the first few years, filling in whenever the team was short on players.

When prohibition hit, Daniel's foresight to develop the bottling side of the industry would prove to be pivotal to the survival of the family business and it actually prospered at a time that many other manufacturers of beer and spirits were forced to shunt operations or face bankruptcy. It was during the Prohibition years that Daniel, with backing secured from his bottling wing of Prescott Breweries, that he purchased the Brooklyn Kings. While no financial details of the transaction were officially released, many insiders claim Prescott negotiated himself an incredible bargain on the purchase price as the Presley Trust was eager to unload the club after Malcolm Presley's death and the lack of business acumen displayed by his successor and nephew Eugene Weston.

Around the same time Prescott assumed control of the Kings he and his bottling company were perfecting designs on a pressurized tin can with a special coating that would prevent fizzy beer from chemically reacting with the tin container. It would be an invention that by the mid 1930s made Prescott a fortune. The purchase of cans, unlike bottles, did not require the consumer to pay a deposit. Cans were also easier to stack, more durable and took less time to chill. Prescott Brewery would be his first customer but by the end of 1935 he had produced and delivered well over a million cans as nearly every major brewery in the Northeast became a customer. The popularity of cans, and the patent that Prescott held, would greatly dwarf the profits of the brewery side of the business and would make the renamed Prescott Kings Canning Company worth a fortune.

Note - The tin beer can actually debuted in late January, 1935 which is right about where we are in Figment Baseball history at this point so I thought it would be a perfect tie-in for Kings owner Prescott, who had previously been described as running a family brewery and bottling business.

The beer can producing wing of his operation now also clears the way much easier for Prescott to move the team out of Brooklyn sometime in the 1950's if that has to happen. Had he strictly been a regional brewery owner I find it would be unthinkable for Prescott to take the Kings from Brooklyn as it would likely do irreparable harm to the family business. That is not to say the Kings will move. Nothing is written in stone in Figment but it is likely at least one of the 3 New York/Brooklyn teams will relocate at some point in time.

Tiger Fan · 02-01-2021, 02:33 PM

March 25, 1935

OPENING WEEK OF SPRING TRAINING

The Kings got the spring training games under way with an 8-5 win over Montreal in the opener. The bats were going right away and it was nice to see veteran Doug Lightbody get things started with a 2-run homer on the second pitch he saw from enemy hurlers this spring. Not much to take from this game or the rest of the week as the focus was on getting the kinks out and giving everyone some at bats. We went 4-2 and scored 33 runs in the 6 games so the signs look encouraging that our offense will be just as powerful this year as it was a season ago.

Some highlights:
Tom Blalock started the opener vs the Saints and pitched well enough to get another start. The 26 year old former Chicago Poly ace tied with Tom Barrell for second team All-American honours in 1928 and was a former 4th overall draft pick but has yet to pitch above AA. I was extremely high on him his draft year but things have not worked out for Blalock. We picked him up from St Louis for a late round draft pick over the winter with plans of assigning him to AAA Rochester in hopes he might be a late bloomer who could give us some useful innings in Brooklyn at some point in his career. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits while fanning 3 and walking 3 in his 4 innings of work.

The Barrell clan is all clicking early. Tom got the start yesterday and followed up his Allan Award winning season a year ago with 4 innings of shutout ball in an 8-4 win over Toronto. Shortstop Harry went 7-for-16 with a pair of doubles in the opening week while first baseman Dan and catcher Fred each hit an identical .545 (6-for-11)

Ken Carpenter worked 5 innings this week and did not allow a hit but did walk 3 batters. Larry Brown and Chuck Murphy, both battling to catch on as the final piece in the bullpen each had strong starts but we received bad news when Art Blake took himself out of the race to make the team but suffering an arm injury that will sideline him until early May.

Jose Serna had a statement week as the former Rule V pickup looks to stick in Brooklyn for a second year rather than go down to Rochester for some much needed playing time. The 22 year old center fielder had 5 hits in 12 at bats including a triple and a homer. Our outfield situation is very crowded with 7 candidates likely belonging in Brooklyn but our plan is to only keep six. In addition to Serna, who appears to be the odd-man out, we have Doug Lightbody, Art Summers, Jim Gentry, Ab Thomas, Bill May and newcomer Joe Perrot.

For the week ahead I have not made too many changes. We did add veteran reliever Bert Henggler to camp. He was a waiver wire signing after Cleveland exposed him. The 33 year old is a fan favourite due to his outstanding work ethic and always enjoying spending time talking with kids in the stands. He was 6-6 with a 4.97 era out of the Foresters pen a year ago and, while he has a chance to break camp with us it likely will depend more on how comfortable we feel with one of our younger guys like Art White, Chuck Murphy, Larry Brown or George DeForest than on what Henggler does over the next 3 weeks. He is also an insurance policy in case 42 year old Hal Galvan (11-8, 18 saves last year) has lost anything. We also optioned veteran minor league shortstop Jud Hall and pitcher Gene Jones to AAA Rochester cutting our camp roster down to 33.

The plan is one more week of looking a little closer at our AAA guys before we start to give the regulars the bulk of the playing time over the final two weeks of camp.

Tiger Fan · 02-02-2021, 12:44 PM

APRIL 1, 1935 - KINGS SPRING TRAINING WEEK TWO

I was hoping it was an April fools joke when I got word Art White will miss the next two months, but unfortunately it was not. Time and time again our decent young pitching prospects go down with an injury. We are still without Johnny Jacob who was a top ten prospect that we lost a year ago when he blew out his arm at age 25. Jacob still has hopes of coming back but a setback this winter means he won't pitch again until at least spring training next year. There have been plenty of others as well with White, presently our #3 prospect and 39th overall, the latest. The 1932 third round pick out of George Fox University had the inside track on the final spot in our bullpen until he went down in a game with Cleveland last week. He had pitched 5 scoreless innings of 3-hit ball in the contest before the injury. The good news, if there is any, is it was his hamstring and not his arm but he will be sidelined until late May. His injury comes a week after we lost 1927 second round pick Art Blake until early May with a muscle strain.

The injury bug continued to bite the Kings last week as backup third baseman and key pinch-hitter Buck Sargent also suffered a muscle strain and will likely not be available until May. The Sargent injury does buy us some time to decide what to do with Nick Wallace, who like Sargent is 26 years old and out of options. Wallace would likely have been placed on waivers in an attempt to get him down to Rochester but, at least for now, the 1929 third round pick out of Wisconsin State will stick with the big club as a reserve corner infielder. Wallace has played 105 career games with the Kings and hit .290. He is 5-for-18 (.278) so far this spring.

It was a rough week on the field for the Kings as well as we dropped 4 of 6 games to even our spring record at 6-6. The week started off on the wrong foot as Tom Blalock, the former college sensation at Chicago Poly and first round pick turned minor league journeyman, punched his ticket back to the minors with a dreadful outing last Monday vs the Chicago Cougars. Blalock only retired two batters while allowing 9 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in a game we would lose 16-2. Bert Henggler, the waiver wire pickup from Cleveland, had rough debut in a Kings uniform in the same game as he was roughed up for 7 runs on 9 hits in two and 2/3 innings. We will chock it up to jitters as Henggler looked much more composed in his next outing, tossing a pair of scoreless innings in a win over the Philadelphia Sailors.

This week I will get much more serious about our rotation as each of the expected rotation guys will get a start with Tom Barrell (1-0, 2.25), Ken Carpenter (2-0, 1.00), Mike Murphy (0-0, 3.52), Joe Shaffner (0-1, 3.00) and Max Wilder (1-0, 4.50) each getting a start this week. Those 5 will be joined by Del Lyons, Hal Galvan and recent waiver pickup Henggler on the final roster. The question now is do I just bring 8 pitchers north or will one of Larry Brown (0-1, 6.48), Chuck Murphy (0-0, 4.50) or George DeForest (0-1, 6.48) show enough in the final two weeks to earn a spot. My expectation is I will start the season with an 8 man staff so each of those three will likely head to AAA Rochester.

The bats continue to heat up in the Florida sunshine. All four of my starting infielders are hitting over .400 in spring action led by Harry Barrell (16-for-33), who leads all players in spring hits. Dan Barrell (.476), Jake Shadoan (.429) and John Langille (.409) are the others. Those 4 along with catcher Fred Barrell (.308), centerfiedler Bill May (.318) and right fielder Doug Lightbody (.250) are assured starting roles when opening day hits. I do have a battle shaping up in left field as young Jose Serna continues to make his case. The 22 year old, who was in Brooklyn all of last season as a rule V pickup but played sparingly, is hitting .346 in the spring and the natural centerfielder would give us outstanding defense should he hit enough to wrestle the starting job from Art Summers and Joe Perret, who I had planned on platooning. However Summers is in the midst of a 2-for-17 spring slump and Perret is not doing much better at 3-for-18 (.167). It is only March so I am not making any rash changes yet but the thought of an outfield with both May and Serna in it is very appealing to our pitching staff.

PROJECTED 23-MAN ROSTER

Here is where things stand right now.

8 or 9 Pitchers: Tom Barrell, Mike Murphy, Ken Carpenter and Joe Shaffner in the rotation with Max Wilder as the swing man and the combo of Del Lyons, Hal Galvan and Bert Henggler handling the relief duties. My expectation is the 3 pitchers in camp (George DeForest, Larry Brown and Chuck Murphy) all get sent to Rochester.

2 Catchers: Fred Barrell with Bill Smith again returning as his backup. The third catcher in camp is minor league veteran Joe Clark and he will go back to Rochester.

6 Infielders: The starters are clearly set. Dan Barrell will play first base and I can spell him with either second baseman Jake Shadoan or outfielder Doug Lightbody. Shadoan is my second baseman - a terrific hitter who's defense seems to be improving. Shortstop Harry Barrell is 21 and already likely the best at his position in the league and third baseman John Langille looks to duplicate an outstanding rookie campaign. Nick Wallace will come north as the backup third baseman now that Buck Sargent is on the DL. That leaves a pair of middle infielders who are both gifted with the glove at either second base or shortstop to fight it out for the final job. Walt Layton has spent the past 5 years with the Kings but has played sparingly since Harry Barrell arrived. Not the best hitter- he is slashing .239/.309/.324 for his 405 game career but his work with the glove is nearly as impressive as Harry's. Rabbit Mudd is a former first round pick who has been up and down between Brooklyn and Rochester. His bat is slightly better than Layton's, slashing .261/.311/.376 in 272 games with the Kings, but his defense, while still very good, is a notch below Layton. Both have option years left so there is no issue demoting either to Rochester.

6 or 7 Outfielders: Bill May will get the job in centerfield and Doug Lightbody owns right. Art Summers, Joe Perret and Jose Serna are battling for left field with Ab Thomas and Jim Gentry in the mix as well. The original plan was to give Serna a couple of months playing every day in Rochester but he may force me to carry 7 outfielders.

The other two guys still in camp are Jimmy Schlosser and Elmer Nolde. I like both of them but won't have room. Nolde, a 1929 second rounder, still has an option left so he will go to Rochester. Schlosser is 27, has been in the system since being selected in the 6th round of the 1929 draft out of Central Ohio University. He has only made the big club for 16 games and spent most of last season in AA Knoxville, where he hit .393. I will have to designate him for assignment and remove him from the 40-man so there is a chance he will be lost as a waiver pickup but there is no room for him with the Kings.

So very little needs to be decided the next two weeks. They key is to have everyone stay healthy and the bats continue to hum in preparation for our season opener two weeks from tomorrow on the road against the New York Stars.

ROSTER MOVES THIS WEEK

Demoted Pitcher Tom Blalock to AAA Rochester
Place P Art White on the 60-day DL and 3B Buck Sargent on the 15-day DL.

Tiger Fan · 02-03-2021, 01:17 PM

APRIL 8, 1935

FINAL ROSTER CLOSE TO COMPLETION AS CAMP NEARS END

Just two spots remain up for grabs as the Brooklyn Kings head into the final few tune-up contests before opening the 1935 season a week fromTuesday on the road against the New York Stars. It is a season filled with very high expectations for the team that came within a game of winning the franchise's 4th Continental Association pennant last year.

Here are the 20 players assured of heading north with the Kings for next week's season opener and there stats from last season.

There are several candidates bidding to join that group in Brooklyn rather than be farmed out to AAA Rochester. Here is some info on each of them and what their likely destination will be:

One of the remaining three spots will go to a back up middle infielder.

WALT LAYTON- 2B/SS - A 16th round pick out of high school in 1926, the 26 year old has spent the past five seasons in Brooklyn, primarily as a backup middle infielder. He has a .239 career batting average but is an outstanding defensive shortstop and often subs in for second baseman Jake Shadoan to preserve a late lead. He has hit .255 in camp this spring and seems assured of making the team ahead of Rabbit Mudd.

RABBIT MUDD- 2B/SS- Like Layton, Mudd is 26 but he was a first round draft pick (15th overall) out of high school in 1927. He has split each of the past four seasons between Brooklyn and Rochester and seems destined to do that again this year as he is likely going to lose the back-up middle infield spot to Layton thanks in part to a rough spring at the plate that saw Mudd hit just .174. His career FABL batting average is slighly higher than Layton at .261 but his defense, while still very good, is considered a shade below Layton as well.

Another spot seems to be spoken for a reserve third baseman

NICK WALLACE- 3B- Another 26 year old, Wallace was taken in the third round of the 1929 draft out of Wisconsin State. He played 71 games in Brooklyn in 1931 and hit .297 but other than that most of his recent time has been spent in Rochester although he did appear in 32 games last season when John Langille was hurt. Out of options, Wallace would likely have been placed on waivers had Buck Sargent not been injured and is sidelined until May. That is still the likely outcome for Wallace but he will have a couple of weeks as Langille's backup to prove why he deserves to stay in Brooklyn ahead of Sargent. He has hit .258 this spring.

That leaves one remaining spot on the opening day roster and a number of bodies battling for it. The Kings have not yet decided if they want to keep a 9th pitcher or an extra outfielder to add some flexibility pinch-hitting off the bench. The choices are between pitchers Larry Brown, George DeForest and Mike Murphy and outfielders Jose Serna and Elmer Nolde. Jimmy Schlosser, another outfielder in camp, is out of options but will be exposed on waivers and if he passes through will go to Rochester as will #3 catcher Joe Clark, who still has a couple of option years left.

Here are the thoughts on those fighting for the final roster spot.

JOSE SERNA - Originally from the Dominican Republic, Serna holds the distinction of being one of the few players nowadays who did not come through the draft. He signed a minor league contract with the Houston Bulls of the independent Lone Star League in 1929 when he was still just 17 years old. Later he would have his contract acquired by the Chicago Cougars but was dealt to Detroit in exchange for outfielder Doc Love last December. The Dynamos left him exposed in the Rule V draft which is how the Kings acquired the much travelled outfielder last winter. He did not play much for Brooklyn but slashed .295/.338/.439 in 47 games and played outstanding defense. The question the Kings have is do they let him play everyday for a season in Rochester or keep him in Brooklyn as a pinch-hitter/defensive replacement. Rochester seemed the likely plan but that was before Serna hit .316 in the spring while the two left field candidates, Art Summers and Joe Perret, both struggled.

ELMER NOLDE- The 27 year old former second round pick out of Coastal California University seemed destined to return to Rochester, where he has spent most of the past few seasons. That was until he hit .355 with a pair of homers in 31 spring at bats. A classic 4A player, Nolde has hit just .246 but did swat 11 homers in 155 career games in Brooklyn while hitting .350 with 24 homers in 125 games at the AAA level. He does have an option year left which might hurt him in his bid to stay in Brooklyn this year.

CHUCK MURPHY - The Kings really did not plan on taking 9 pitchers north but the three guys battling for that potential spot all have looked very good. Murphy is a 25 year old who was acquired from Montreal along with Bill May and John Langille in the trade that sent pitching star Milt Fritz north of the border. A 1930 first round pick (12th overall) out of Ellery College, Murphy went 3-5 with a 5.49 era in a brief spell in Brooklyn last summer. He has a 2.12 era in 17 spring innings with a 189 ERA+ and is out of option years so it appears the Kings are leaning towards keeping him. However, that option was complicated by the arrival of veteran waiver wire pick Bert Henggler to fill out the pitching staff.

LARRY BROWN - Like Murphy, Brown is out of option years so the Kings have some tough decisions to make. The 26 year old Brown was acquired from Detroit in a 1929 trade after being selected 4th overall out Oakland High School by the Dynamos three years earlier. Brown has had very little opportunity in Brooklyn but has been solid in Rochester. He will likely be exposed on the waiver wire if he is not traded.

GEORGE DEFOREST - With an option year left DeForest is almost assured of starting the year in Rochester. The 26 year old was acquired from the Chicago Cougars along with Tom and Fred Barrell and Mike Murphy in the trade that sent Tommy Wilcox and Mike Taylor to the Windy City. Originally a 1927 6th round pick out of San Antonio High School, DeForest threw a no-hitter in the minors and was consistently ranked in the top 80 prospects. He had 4 very good outings this spring but also one bad one. He was 3-6 for the Kings in 10 starts in Brooklyn a year ago while going 10-5, 3.57 in Rochester.

OUTLOOK - The likely scenario is Murphy makes the team because of his option concerns but there is also a slight change the Kings take Nolde north as well as Murphy if they decide to part ways with veteran reliever Bert Henggler.

EDIT - BREAKING NEWS

The Kings have moved Larry Brown, dealing the young pitcher to the Chicago Chiefs in exchange for a 6th round draft pick. We hate to lose Brown but it was a numbers game and he was the odd-man out but hopefully gets a chance with the Chiefs.

Tiger Fan · 02-04-2021, 12:33 PM

APRIL 15, 1935

ROSTER CUT DOWN DAY

A strong finish to spring training as the Kings go 4-1 to end the Grapefruit Season with the best record in the Continental Association at 15-9, 1 game up on defending World Champion Cleveland. 21 year old shortstop Harry Barrell led all CA qualifying hitters with a .419 spring average while Chuck Murphy cemented himself a spot on the opening day roster with a 1.71 era in 21 spring innings. Other Kings hurlers who had a strong spring include Allan Award winnerTom Barrell (1-0, 1.50), Ken Carpenter (4-0, 2.12) and Mike Murphy (2-0, 2.29). Among the position players John Langille hit .420 with 3 homers, Jake Shadoan .390 and backup catcher Bill Smith batted .481.

The Kings final order of business before we open the season is to get the roster down to 23 players. We entered the final week with 29 players in the main camp after dealing pitcher Larry Brown, who was out of options, to the Chicago Cougars for a 6th round draft pick. It would have been nice to get more for Brown, who I think still has some upside but we likely would have lost the 26 year old for nothing this week when he had to pass through waivers.

Speaking of waivers we did put a successful claim in on former King second baseman Bill Scott, who had been waived by Cleveland. Scott, who has some power and is very strong with the glove, hit 33 homers for us in 1930 - that total was 4 shy of former catcher and current Tampa Cigar Kings hitting coach Paul Tattersall's 1921 club record. Scott's issue has always been making contact as he hit just .226 with 162 strikeouts in 260 games with the Kings from 1930-32. We lost him on a waiver claim to Cleveland last fall after he spent the season with the Union League champion Rochester Rooks, our AAA club. Scott does not factor in the big club's plans but our hope is he clears waivers for us and we can put him back in Rochester where his experience can help some of our prospects.

Getting from 29 down to within one of the 23 man limit was fairly easy as we designated outfielder Jimmy Schlosser for assignment and put him through waivers since the 27 year old former 6th round pick was out of options. I am fairly confident Schlosser will clear but not sure there will be room for him in Rochester so he may go back to AA Knoxville, for whom he hit .393 in 112 games and finished second in the Dixie League batting race.

Other moves saw 3rd catcher Joe Clark and reserve infielder Rabbit Mudd get demoted to the minor league camp as did promising young outfielder Jose Serna and pitcher George DeForest. Both Serna and DeForest played well and each deserves to be in Brooklyn but we have the luxury of being a very deep team this year so both will have to play in Rochester at least to start the season.

THE FINAL CUT

This one was a very tough decision. In the end Chuck Murphy forced me to carry a 9th pitcher even though I would have preferred to go with 8 at least for April. Murphy is out of options and while some trades were discussed, including a potential deal that would have sent him to a Federal Association club along with a third round pick in exchange for that team's first round selection, but it and the other discussions ultimately fell apart. I think it worked out for the best as my Scouting Director John Spears is very bullish on the 26 year old and Murphy restated his case for belonging in Brooklyn with a terrific final outing of the spring season, tossing 4 scoreless innings of 1-hit ball in a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cougars. Overall, his 1.71 spring era was third lowest among qualifiers in the CA.

That meant I had to send Serna and also 27 year old outfielder Elmer Nolde to the minors. I really wanted to keep Nolde after what he has done this spring. The 27 year old former second round draft pick hit .400 with a pair of homers in 35 spring at bats and would have been ideal as the first option for a lefthanded pinch-hitter but unfortunately there is no room for him so he will return to Rochester, using his final option year. As expected he was very upset upon receiving the news after hitting .350 with 24 homers over 125 games at AAA the past three seasons. I explained he will be our first option for recall and like each of the past three seasons he can expect to see some time in Brooklyn.

I was really torn on Nolde and came very close to exposing newly acquired reliever Bert Henggler to waivers. The 33 year old we picked up from Cleveland on the waiver wire at the start of camp did not have an impressive spring, posting a 6.38 era and a .456 FIP in 6 relief appearances, only two of which did not result in him giving up runs and he blew two saves. To be honest had I been more comfortable about 42 year old Hal Galvan I would have cut Henggler and kept Nolde. However, Galvan had a brutal final outing against Cleveland and blew his second save of the spring (both against the Foresters). I am worried about his age and the fact he has lost a little off his fastball over the winter. Galvan had 18 saves a year ago and won 11 games in 54 relief appearances but he is the player I am most concerned about not duplicating his 1934 season. So I figure I will give it a week or two with 9 arms and if Galvan looks good and Chuck Murphy proves he can do the job out of the pen then Henggler will be on his way out of town.

So the big league roster is all set. Now my attention turns to setting up the minor leagues.

Here are the 23 members of the Brooklyn Kings 1935 Opening Day roster.

Tiger Fan · 02-09-2021, 03:12 PM

APRIL 1935 - KINGS START SEASON 8-5

What a difference a year can make on your expectations. At this time last season I was just hoping the Kings could get off to a decent start after 1932 and 1933 saw the team suffer through a brutal first half of each season. Last year was much different and the Kings were contenders all season before finally conceeding the pennant to the Cleveland Foresters on the final day of the regular season. Fast forward to today and as the end of April fast approaches the Kings sport an 8-5 record and are in third place, two games back of the surprising Montreal Saints. Normally I would feel pretty good about that record but the fact that we dropped four of sven games to rebuilding Baltimore is a cause for worry. I feel we missed an opportunity to take even more advantage of the terrible start that Cleveland (3-9) has gotten off to and can't help but feel this early losses to Baltimore could be the difference in whether we play October baseball or not.

In addition, our big three of Tom Barrell (1-1, 4.97), Ken Carpenter (2-2, 4.50) and Mike Murphy (1-1, 6.30) have been less than impressive on the mound. I am hopeful each will come around soon and #4 starter Joe Shaffner (2-0, 0.56) has been a very pleasant surprise.

Our offense is doing it's job, especially shortstop Harry Barrell (.396,0,3), who was player of the week to start the season, and veteran outfielder Doug Lightbody (.320,0,13). The big position of concern is left field were the platoon of Art Summers (.183,1,3) and Joe Perret (.250,0,0) have both struggled. It is too early to panic but another quality veteran outfield bat may be on my shopping list soon.

WEEK ONE

We opened the season with 7 road games in six days starting with 3 vs the New York Stars. We took two wins in the series including a 6-5 comeback win on opening day when pinch-hitter Nick Wallace hit a 2-run single in the top of the ninth. Harry Barrell had a 4-for-4 day while big brother Tom got the win despite not having his best stuff on the mound. Ken Carpenter had a terrible outing the next night as the 36 year old who won 19 games last season, was awful in a 9-2 defeat. We took the series with an 8-5 win in the finale as Mike Murphy, a 20 game winner a year ago, won his debut with Doug Lightbody delivering a pair of hits and 3 rbi's.

On to Baltimore for a doubleheader to open the four game set with the Cannons. Joe Shaffner allowed 2 runs over 7 innings in a 6-4 win in the opener with Lightbody adding 3 more hits and Harry and Fred Barrell two apiece. Tom Barrell went in the night cap and didn't pitch badly, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits but we couldn't generate enough offense of our own and fell 4-3. Saturday was a slugfest that we won 10-7 with Carpenter again struggling, but he did pickup the W. Lightbody and young centerfielder Bill May had 3 hits each while second year 3B John Langille had 2 hits and drove in 3 runs. On Sunday, Baltimore rookie Dale Dube tossed a gem, 7 innings of 1 hit ball as we fall 5-0 with Mike Murphy taking the loss.

WEEK TWO

After a 4-3 start we came home to Kings County ballpark and started a 4-game winning streak. In the home opener we beat New York 9-8 in 11 innings as Art Summers showed signs of breaking out of his early season funk with 3 hits including a 2-run walk-off homer. The bats kept going the rest of the series with wins over the Stars by scores of 7-2 and 13-10 before we continued the winning streak in the opener of a 3-game set with Baltimore. Joe Shaffner went the distance, allowing just 1 run on 7 hits in a 5-1 win over the Cannons. However the week ended on a couple of sour notes. Saturday Baltimore rallied to beat us 3-2 as Del Lyons failed to preserve a win for Tom Barrell, despite Barrell's best outing of the season so far while on Sunday Ken Carpenter had another bad game against his former team and we fell 8-5.

LOOKING AHEAD

Next up our long 22 game homestand continues as we get to see if Montreal is for real. The Saints, under new management this season, are off to a great start and lead the CA despite most experts feeling they are a .500 team at best. We end the week with 3 against the Philadelphia Sailors (8-4), who are a half game ahead of us.

MINORS

Some of our recent draft picks are shining in Class C Marshalltown. First rounder Dan Rogers (.417,1,6) was named Upper Mississippi Valley Association player of the week while 3rd rounder Bob Mullins (.381,1,3), an outfielder like Rogers, is also off to a strong start. Our other third round pick, 22 year old lefthander Jack Wood, had a very strong debut on the mound for the Maples as did 19 year old fourth rounder Gus Parker.

Brooklyn claimed former Chicago Cougars first baseman Phil Vaughan on waivers and assigned him to AAA Rochester. The 30 year old has some power, he hit 20 homers in 117 games for AAA Milwaukee a year ago and was added to provide organizational depth. A 1926 ninth round pick out of Wisconsin State, Vaughan appeared in 255 FABL games with the Cougars, hitting .255 with 12 homers.

Tiger Fan · 02-10-2021, 12:54 PM

MAY 6, 1935 ANOTHER FOUR FOR BROOKLYN

I guess if we can win 4 games every week we will be just fine. For the third week in a row the Brooklyn Kings won 4 games to improve our season record to 12-7. The Kings started the week by cooling off the previously red-hot Montreal Saints. The Saints arrived at Kings County Park to open the 3 game series on Tuesday with the best record in either league at 10-3 but limped out of Brooklyn with 3 straight losses while being outscored 24-10. Only the opener of the set was a rout as the Kings bats rapped out 16 hits including 3 each from John Langille, Doug Lightbody and Joe Perret, in a 12-0 whitewashing. Lost in all the offensive noise was Tom Barrell quietly had his best outing of the season, a complete game 3-hit shutout that will hopefully put him back on track after a slow start.

The other two games of the Montreal series were much tighter. The Kings took each by a single run starting with a dramatic walk-off win that rewarded the 10,447 fans who suffered through a rainy afternoon that included a 24 minute delay due to the weather in the 8th inning. Jake Shadoan was the walkoff hero, delivering an rbi single in the bottom of the ninth to plate Dan Barrell, who started the inning with a lead-off double. Barrell and Shadoan each had 3 hits in the win. Starting pitcher Joe Shaffner was not especially sharp after two terrific outings to start the season but he did enough to keep us close with Hal Galvan, who won 11 games out of the pen a year ago, getting his first victory of the season. We closed out the series with Mike Murphy tossing his best game of the young season, going the distance in a 4-3 win.

Next up was a showdown with the Philadelphia Sailors, fresh off a 3-game sweep of the Chicago Cougars and winners of 7 of their previous 8 games entering the series. The Kings dropped the opener 8-2 as starting pitcher Ken Carpenter continues to be in a funk after a very strong spring training. The 36 year old, who was 19-8 a yar ago and entered the season with 204 career FABL wins - second most of any active FABL hurler- but is 2-3 with a 5.65 era in 5 starts for the Kings this season. We rebounded with a 17-3 win in the middle game of the series as Doug Lightbody had 4 hits, including a homer, drove in 4 runs and scored 4 while Jake Shadoan also had 4 hits and 4 rbi's but was a bit of a slacker compared to Lightbody by only scoring 3 times. Tom Barrell surrendered 9 hits in going the distance but with a 10-0 lead after two innings perhaps his focus was not fully dialed in. I just wish we saved some of our 21 hits for Sunday as we lost the finale 3-1 despite Joe Shaffner tossing a fairly solid game.

Next up we continue our homestand with 3 games against Toronto, who have been surprisingly good to start the season and then the dates that have been circled on our calendar for quite some time as we have a 4 game weekend series with the team that nosed us out for the pennant a year ago when the World Champion Cleveland Foresters come to town. It is an unusual time for Cleveland as their GM just bolted to Detroit and the team started the season 4-10 before winning their last 4 games.

ROSTER MOVES

With 3B Buck Sargent coming off the DL the Kings were faced with a roster crunch at third as Sargent as well as fellow 26 year old Nick Wallace were each out of options and I could only keep one to backup sophomore sensation John Langille. Wallace, was hitting .571 (4-for-7) as a pinch-hitter this season but we like Sargent's defense and power potential a little better so rather than risk losing Wallace on the waiver wire if we were to designate him for assignment, we shipped him to Toronto in exchange for a 4th round draft pick in December. Wallace played in 113 games for the Kings, batting .295 while providing pretty stable defense.

To temporarily make room for Sargent and Wallace on the roster (as the trade is not processed until the end of the sim) we have sent Art Summers down to AAA in hopes it gets him untracked. Summers is a career .292 hitter with 59 homers in 661 games with the Kings but was hitting just .150 to start the season for us after struggling through a poor spring training. He had been sharing leftfield with off-season pickup Joe Perret (.321,0,3) but for this week anyway, Perret will be the everyday leftfielder.

We are actively searching for another option in leftfield as well as perhaps a veteran starting pitcher. So far there have been preliminary discussions with several teams and while a couple of the talks seem promising, there is nothing to report as of yet.

Tiger Fan · 02-10-2021, 07:57 PM

BREAKING NEWS - KINGS INVOLVED IN BIGGEST DEAL IN FABL HISTORY

The new GM of the Detroit Dynamos got to work quickly and just hours after taking the job he agreed to a deal with the Brooklyn Kings that is the largest in league history.

The Brooklyn Kings high powered offense received a huge jolt with the addition of sluggers Al Wheeler and Frank Vance from Detroit as the Dynamos embark on a full-scale rebuild. The Kings also add a veteran starting pitcher in Jack Beach but the price was very expensive as Brooklyn was forced to part with 8 draft picks and 5 prospects including 3 in the league's top 100.

The full deal sees the Kings send their first thru 8th round picks in the December rookie draft as well as P Earle Robinson (33rd overall prospect) , SS Tip Harrison (55th overall prospect), LHP Jack Wood (76th overall prospect), CF Jose Serna (AAA)and LF Jay Buckingham (AA). The transaction, involving a toal of 16 players or picks, is the largest deal ever consumated in FABL.

For Brooklyn the key pieces are Vance and Wheeler, considered to be the top two players on the Dynamos and two of the best players in Detroit history. The 32 year old Vance won the Whitney Award as Federal Association MVP in 1929 when he hit .372 and practically carried the Dynamos to a World Championship. He was also named WCS MVP that season. Selected in the second round of the 1921 draft out of Buffalo High School, Vance has played 952 games and has a .337 lifetime average in his 7 and a half seasons in Detroit. He is hitting .392 with 3 homers and 18 rbi's in 19 games this season. A natural third baseman, Vance is expected to move to first base with the Kings, relegating Dan Barrell to back-up and pinch-hitting duties.

Wheeler is still just 27 years old but already ranks 11th all-time with 201 career homers despite batting lefthanded and playing in a park that is murder on leftys. The Kings have been eyeing Wheeler since Detroit selected him first overall in the 1925 draft out of Decatur High School. That was the same draft the Kings selected Doug Lightbody 6th overall and now the two will share an outfield in Brooklyn. Wheeler owns 2 Whitney Awards after being selected Federal Association MVP in both 1930 and 1932. He is a veteran of 1089 FABL games and boasts a .325 career batting average but has struggled this season, hitting just .243 with 2 homers and 11 rbi's through 19 games. Wheeler's acquisition will see him take over left field in Brooklyn, despite being a natural right fielder like Lightbody. Joe Perret will go to the bench and Art Summers, who was recently sent down to Rochester for a week, will now find himself in AAA for a longer spell.

Jack Beach is a 33 year old righthander who attended Georgia Baptist, just as Fred and Tom Barrell did but he left the year before Fred arrived at the school, after being selected in the 4th round of the 1923 draft by the Dynamos. Beach did not make his FABL debut until 1929 at the age of 27 and is 80-58 for his big league career including a 20-win season in 1932 that saw him with the Fed's Allen Award. He has struggled in the early going this season at 1-2 with a 6.00 era in 4 starts but he is a groundball pitcher with four solid offerings. He will likely start his career in the Kings organization in AAA as Brooklyn determines what to do with Chuck Murphy, a promising pitcher who is out of minor league options but probably a little shy of making this veteran ladden staff. The plan is to give Beach a couple of starts in the minors and then determine if he goes to the rotation or the pen with the Kings.

The cost was huge. Nevermind the 8 draft picks which presently leave Brooklyn without a selection until the fourth round. The Kings own Toronto's fourth round pick as well as the Chicago Chiefs 6th rounder and perhaps will be shopping a couple of players such as Chuck Murphy and third baseman Buck Sargent in an effort to grab some more selections in the rounds 3-5 range.

The prospects that Brooklyn give up all look very promising. Let's start with the pitchers. Earle Robinson is just 19 years old and was selected 5th overall out Swoyersville High School in the 1933 draft. He had some back problems last season and was limited to just 5 starts in his rookie pro year but has moved up from the 37th rated prospect in April of 1934 to number 33 overall as of this writing. 22 year old lefthander Jack Wood was the Kings 3rd round pick out of Henry Hudson University last December. The New York City native is 1-1 in 3 pro starts at Class C Marshalltown. He is presently ranked 76th on the OSA top 100 prospect list.

Brooklyn also parts with shortstop Tip Harrison. The 23 year old was a first round candidate in last December's mock draft but slipped to the Kings in the second round, 29th overall. Out of Bluegrass State, Harrison was adapting nicely to pro ball at Class B Tampa, where he was hitting .268 through 12 games for the Cigar Kings. Scouts rave about his defense and his speed. He is presently rated #55 on the top 100 prospect list.

The final two pieces the Kings give up are a pair of recently acquired young outfielders. Centerfielder Jose Serna was orginally an independent free agent out of the Dominican Republic before signing with the Chicago Cougars organization. The Cougars dealt him to Detroit for Doc Love and the Dynamos inexplicably left him exposed in the Rule V draft last season so Brooklyn grabbed him. He hit .295 in 47 games as a King a year ago and nearly made the club after an impressive spring training this season. The 22 year old was instead sent to Rochester where he was hitting .340 for the Rooks through the first 12 games of the season and now he finds himself back with the Dynamos organization. The final piece to the deal was 24 year old corner outfielder Jay Buckingham, originally a 6th round pick out of Lynn High School by Toronto in 1929. He hit .415 with 7 homers in 100 games for Class B Vancouver a year ago, prompting the Kings to purchase his contract from the Wolves organization in the minor league phase of the rule V draft this past winter. Buckingham was hitting .389 through 8 games with Class AA Knoxville prior to the trade.

KINGS ANALYSIS

It is obviously a lot to give up but Brooklyn felt it could easily absorb the cost and that it was well worth it considering the offensive production Wheeler and Vance should bring to what was already the most productive offense in the Continental Association. Wheeler gives the Kings a power hitter they have not seen since former catcher Paul Tattersall, now a hitting coach in the Kings organization, who hit a career best 37 homers in 1921. Wheeler's career high is 38 but he stands a very good chance of surpassing that playing in the much more neutral Kings County Stadium as opposed to Thompson Field in Detroit where countless Wheeler fly balls died in the cavernous right field. Vance gives Brooklyn another player who could very easily win a batting title in the next year or two, joining the likes of Doug Lightbody (2 already), second year pro John Langille and 22 year old Harry Barrell.

The only concern is how will the defense look. Vance is a natural third baseman but there is little chance the Kings move Langille from that spot so the only alternative is first base, which sends Dan Barrell to the bench as a pinch-hitter. Wheeler is a natural right fielder like Doug Lightbody but one of the two will have to shift to left field. It might cost the Kings a few runs but the offensive upside should hopefully far more than counter that.

Brooklyn did want to get a quality bottom of the rotation arm in the trade but felt the closest Detroit had was Beach. He has had his ups and downs but has been very healthy and not had a losing record since 1930. He will be insurance if Ken Carpenter continues to struggle or could help round out the bullpen.

As for the price the Kings paid, well 8 draft picks is a lot to give away but the Kings feel they can withstand the one year blip in the influx of rookies. Brooklyn has proven adept in adding depth pieces from other sources like the rule V drafts and don't be surprised if the Kings add a few more mid-round picks before the season is done. They do give up their first rounder of course, but the hope is it is 15th overall (the CA gets odd number picks this season) and the Kings had a plan to deal their entire draft away anyways. The original thinking was they would package all 10 of their human GM picks and a high end prospect or two (like the ones they dealt to Detroit) for the right to move up and select first overall in the draft. The endgame was to get Rufus Barrell II, nephew of the Kings quartet of Barrell's, but there was no guarantee the team picking first would take such a bounty for that pick so when the Detroit opportunity came up the Kings jumped at it with a similar offer they had planned for the first overall pick.

The two young pitchers dealt may well both pan out and enjoy great careers but Brooklyn has been burned by injuries to top prospect pitchers before - such as Bill Dengler or more recently Johnny Jacob - so the Kings felt this move made sense especially considering Robinson had some back problems a year ago. The move also allowed the Kings to retain their final two top 100 pitching prospects - both college arms in Art White and Bill Cummings. Either of them may find their way to Brooklyn this season or potentially could be moved if the Kings feel they need another veteran arm. The hope is both settle into the rotation either this year (Art White) or next year (Bob Cummings) and give Brooklyn a terrific crop of arms to back up Tom Barrell, Mike Murphy and a still fairly young at age 30 Joe Sharrett.

Shortstop Tip Harrison is going to be a really good one. The Kings are very high on their second round pick. However, Harry Barrell should have a hammerlock on the starting shortstop job for at least the next decade and moving Harrison to second or third does not seem an option with 27 year old Jake Shadoan and 24 year old John Langille having established themselves there. So Harrison was drafted with the express purpose of being a trade chip.

Serna was a player the Kings could see in their outfield but with fellow 22 year old Bill May looking like their centerfielder of the future and promising 18 year old first round draft pick Dan Rogers off to a strong start at Class C Marshalltown there is not a lot of room for Serna in the outfield when you consider Wheeler is still just 27, Lightbody seems rejuvenated at age 31 and Ab Thomas and Jim Gentry still productive at ages 30 and 29 respectively. The Kings are also liking what they see out of 19 year old Bob Mullins, a third round pick last December and that is not even factoring in the presently struggling Art Summers, who is still just 28 and has hit .292 with some pop over 661 career FABL games.

So all of the pieces were ones the Kings felt they could absorb the loss of. The core of the team is young enough that the window to contend should be open for a number of years but with Cleveland's management in a state of flux, the Cougars loaded with talent but enduring the absence of ace Tommy Wilcox for much of the season, Baltimore rebuilding, the Montreal Saints and Toronto Wolves adapting to new GMs and the New York Stars and Philadelphia Sailors appearing to perhaps be going though a rare down year this seems to be the Kings best chance at finally ending their World Championship Series drought. The Sailors still look strong and the Foresters are always to be feared but Brooklyn felt rather than trying to add another veteran ace pitcher, they would be better served by improving on an already dominant offense.

If nothing else the Kings will be an exciting team to watch this summer but the goal is to become an exciting team to watch this October.

Tiger Fan · 02-11-2021, 02:40 PM

MAY 13, 1935

THE PIECES ARE IN PLACE. WE BETTER WIN.

My fan interest, which was already at 100 has taken another huge jump forward according to fan reaction to the big deal with Detroit. Al Wheeler, Frank Vance and Jack Beach - all former league MVP or Allan Award winners - have joined the organization without sacrificing a single player from our core big league group. I did give up a big chunk of the future but as I mentioned in the previous post I believe we can withstand that loss fairly well. I also made a couple of housecleaning moves today designed to help add draft capital.

Chuck Murphy and Buck Sargent, both players I was quite fond of and would have loved to keep in the system, were each out of options and with the newcomers there was unfortunately no place for them on the Brooklyn roster. In a different situation I would like to think they would have been worth more but I did get a pair of fourth round draft picks back in exchange for moving them. Murphy, a 26 year old righthander who was 4-9 in 29 big league appearances over the past four seasons was moved to the Chicago Chiefs were he can be reunited with his former GM, who originally drafted Murphy when he was running the Montreal Saints organization. I think Murphy could be a very solid back of the rotation starter but there just wasn't room for him here in Brooklyn. Likewise, I was always a big Buck Sargent fan ever since I selected the 27 year old third baseman in the 3rd round of the 1926 draft. He is sound defensively and has had some pretty good homerun totals in the minors. Unfortunately events conspired against him ever getting a fair shake in Brooklyn, primarily he was caught in the numbers game as I had to keep other players over him in past years because they were out of options. Sargent hit .235 with 19 homers in 137 games for the Kings over 4 seasons but never got a chance to show what he could do as an everyday player. I am hopeful the Philadelphia Keystones, who sent me their fourth round pick in December for him, can give Sargent that opportunity.

With those two deals and pair made earlier this season moving 2 other players who were out of options I am slowly regaining some draft picks after the big trade cost me my rounds 1 thru 8 selections. I now own three fourth rounders (Chiefs, Keystones and Toronto) as well as a 6th rounder (Chiefs) to go with my own 9th and 10th round picks.

As for the newcomers Vance will play 1B for me sending Dan Barrell to the bench where he should get plenty of pinch-hitting opportunities. Vance had never played 1B before but the Detroit Dynamos used the final sim they had him to give him a taste and he should fit in fine, especially considering Barrell was awful in the field anyway. I am likely going to start Wheeler in left field and keep Doug Lightbody in right. Wheeler does have a better arm I believe so right might be best for him but he did very well in a small sample of games in left with Detroit last week and I am hesitant to do anything to disrupt Lightbody, who has been hitting great and playing nearly acceptable defense. That might change but for now I will go with Wheeler in left. As for the pitcher I picked up, well Jack Beach will need to spend a week in Rochester as we have to wait for Chuck Murphy to depart at the end of the sim. The same news awaited outfielder Jim Gentry and he was not impressed but someone had to go to Rochester for a week until Sargent is moved off our active roster so Gentry gets an all-expense paid trip to Rochester for the week.

The newcomers will debut in tonight's sim. Here is what the batting order will look like.

That leaves the righthanded Dan Barrell (.300,2,20),Joe Perret (.306,2,8) and Bill Smith (.333,0,5) as well as lefthanded bat Ab Thomas (.348,0,3) to pinch-hit with switch hitter Gentry (.250,0,5) coming back next week.

In our final week pre-Wheeler and Vance the Kings went 5-2 and have taken over top spot in the Continental Association.

We started poorly by dropping 2 of three to a surprisingly improved Toronto Wolves team before the showdown we had been waiting for - a series with Cleveland arrived. The Foresters beat us by a game for the pennant a year ago but the Kings were on a mission this weekend, sweeping the 4 game set and outscoring the mighty Foresters 30-14 in the process - and that was before the arrival of Wheeler and Vance.

There is plenty of excitement in Brooklyn surrounding the club with fans feeling this could finally be the year we end the World Championship Series drought and the curse of Ferdinand Hawkins. There is a lot of work to be done before that can even be considered as Philadelphia looks strong and even with their slow start you can never count the Foresters out. But this feels like the dawn of a new era in Kings baseball. The pieces are there. Now they need to come together so we can rule the Continental Association.

Tiger Fan · 02-12-2021, 04:47 PM

I will start this week's recap with a quick note that there is a rare opening in our online league. It is a great opportunity as well as the open team is the defending World Champion Cleveland Foresters. The Foresters GM decide to move and take on the task of rebuilding arguably the worst organization in the league so his team is available. This is a fantastic league and if you have been following my dynasty I am sure you are the type of person that would love it. I would say at least 10 of our GMs are original guys and everyone in the league is very willing to help anyone new to either online league play or stats-only. As it mentions in my first post or two in this thread I joined the league because I loved a great story, and our commissioner - who does not own a team - has created an incredibly in depth 'alternate' baseball universe. Don't worry if you are new to online leagues as I was in the exact same boat when I joined. You can count on plenty of help and a very immersive experience you can either contribute to by writing about your own team's exploits or if you simply want to run your club then instead of writing about the league just follow along with all of the great material on this board and in our slack channel. We have owners that write and owners who prefer to sit back and just focus on the few minutes needed each sim to ensure their team export is done and answer any slack messages with trade discussions and both groups can be equally successful in the league. By far Figment Baseball the best experience I have had with OOTP, and that includes all of the solo projects I have done since OOTP2. PM me or the commish Legendsport if you are interested or just want some more information. Even if you don't want to join make sure you read Legendsport's Ballad of the Barrells and the Figment Universe History if you haven't already.

MAY 20, 1935

HOPEFULLY EVERY WEEK IS LIKE THIS ONE

The newcomers from Detroit arrived and the Kings enjoyed a 6-1 week to open their lead on second place Philadelphia atop the Continental Association to 3.5 games. We began the week with a 3-game sweep of the Chicago Cougars which extended our winning streak to 7 games and finished off our long homestand with a 16-6 record. Now we go on the road for an equally tough stretch (just have to love these 1930s schedules) that will see us play 15 games over 15 days with stops in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Toronto, Chicago and finally Montreal. The road trip began with 4 against the Sailors and after dropping the opener of the series 3-2, we rebounded with 3 straight wins.

Al Wheeler, the 27 year old two-time Federal Association Whitney Award winning outfielder we acquired from Detroit, kicked off his career as a King very nicely, batting .480 for the week with 2 homers, 9 rbi's and 10 runs scored. I did not think anyone could outshine Harry Barrell, who is hitting .401 on the season and riding a 19 game hitting streak but Wheeler did as Barrell hit 'just' .412 with 8 rbi's last week. The other newcomer is Frank Vance, a 32 year old third baseman who had been red hot all season in Detroit. We have asked Frank to move to a new position, first base, because we have second year man John Langille (.345,2,23) set at third so perhaps that might have impacted Vance at the plate slightly. Regardless the veteran Vance went 6-for-23 with 4 walks for us last week so certainly not a terrible debut.

Either way I have little concern about our offense at this time. Pitching, on the other hand, still worries me. Not so much Tom Barrell (4-3, 4.04), despite the fact Barrell suffered his third loss of the season this week after going the entire season a year ago (29-3) with just 3. Or Mike Murphy (6-1, 3.38) as the 27 year old overcame a couple of rough starts to the season but has been the guy who won 21 games for us last year ever since. 31 year old Joe Shaffner (4-1, 2.62) has also been very good and has taken over the #3 spot in our 4 man rotation.

The worry lies primarily in veteran Ken Carpenter (3-4, 5.89), who was outstanding last season after we picked him up from Baltimore and was great in spring training but has been awful since the season started. We received a glimmer of hope that he perhaps has righted himself with a 7 inning, 4-hit 3 earned run effort against the Philadelphia Sailors on Saturday but prior to that he had allowed at least 5 earned runs in each of his 5 previous starts. I want to stick with him, as my scouting director feels he is our best option at #4 and manager Wally Grant agrees so we will give Carpenter another sim but the rope is certainly getting shorter.

I had to park Jack Beach, the 32 year old former Allen Award Winner we got from Detroit, in AAA last sim waiting for Chuck Murphy to be moved off of our roster and what I saw from Beach in Rochester was not pretty. He lost both of his decisions but what worried me the most was his first start vs Richmond when he allowed 10 hits and walked 4 in 6 and two-thirds vs AAA opponents. He was a little better in his second outing but also was tagged with the loss. I had been planning on having him take Carpenter's spot next week if Carpenter continues to struggle but now I am not so sure.

My other choice for the final spot in our four man rotation should Carpenter continue to struggle is 37 year old Max Wilder. We paid a big price in prize prospect Ken Mayhugh to get Wilder from the Boston Minutemen at the deadline last year only to see him get hurt and pitch just 5 games for us, and not do very well in them either. He had a rough spring so I have not used him much this season, just 4 relief appearances but I likely should give him an opportunity at some point. The rest of our bullpen which consists primarily of Del Lyons and Hal Galvan has been good as always with the pair combining to go 3-1 with 3 saves. We also have Bert Henggeler, the waiver wire pickup from Cleveland in the pen and he has been quite solid as well.

So yes, other teams might look at this and be envious that my only worry right now is the bottom guy in my rotation but there is immense pressure on the Kings this season to win it all, something Brooklyn has never done and after Cleveland winning the title a year ago we are the only one of the 16 FABL franchises to never win a World Championship Series.

MINORS

I felt a little pang of pride to get word that Earle Robinson pitched a no-hitter in his second game in the Detroit system. Robinson was one of the pieces I moved in the big trade last week and was the 5th overall draft pick in 1933. He had previously thrown a perfect game in high school during our feeder league games. The fact that this no-hitter came at the expense of my Southeastern League farm club Tampa did temper the pride slightly.

Luis Galvan won player of the week honours in the AA Dixie League with Knoxville. Galvan is a 32 year old career minor leaguer who's contract I purchased from the independent Portland Green Sox prior to the 1932 season. He was brought in just to add minor league depth but has been outstanding wherever I played him including hitting .288 in 73 at bats I gave him in Brooklyn a couple of years ago. He is tearing up the Dixie League this season, batting .487. Galvan will likely never be back in the big leagues but is a tremendous minor league first baseman. I try to have 1 or two guys like that at each level just to mentor my prospects. The main one is Hector Rosario, a 34 year old first baseman we signed as a free agent in 1927 after New Orleans, another indy team, cut him loose. I rewarded his work ethic and leadership with 5 games in Brooklyn in September of 1932 but he has spent nearly all of his career with the Kings bouncing between A and AA. This season he his batting .330 for Class A Springfield and is the team leader. Just thought I would give both of these character guys some publicity.

Another future leader but I expect it will be in Brooklyn is 18 year old Dan Rogers. My first round pick (14th overall) last December was just promoted from Class C Marshalltown to Tampa of the Class B Southeastern League after the Canton, Ohio native hit .345 with 4 homers in his first 26 games of pro ball.

Tiger Fan · 02-16-2021, 12:55 PM

STILL #1 BUT CLEVELAND IS CLOSING

The Kings had a decent couple of weeks, going 4-3 in each of them with all but the final series on the road. Unfortunately the Cleveland Foresters have awakened from their early season slumber and closed to within 4 games after going 11-3 over the past two weeks. Their pitching has really picked up and so has 40 year old Max Morris. The all-time homerun king was in a bit of a power slump but belted 3 homers over the past 8 days to give him 673 for his career.

I knew the Foresters were going to be strong, but with their slow start I had thought maybe there was a chance we could maintain a nice lead on them and build a very solid cushion by the all-star break to make the second half a little less stressful than it was last season, when we lost to Cleveland by a single game.

We have not played badly at all, in fact we have not had a losing sim week yet, but I can't help but worry that a number of guys are not quite playing up to their potential. The obvious one who's performance is off compared to last season is 37 year old Ken Carpenter, who went 16-6 for his with a 119 ERA+ after being acquired from Baltimore. This year Carpenter has struggled, posting a 5-5 record with a 5.12 era and his ERA+ is 93. He had a couple of decent starts two weeks ago and I thought he might be coming around but he struggled again his last two outings, although did do enough to get the win in a 6-5 victory over the New York Stars last week.

With Carpenter struggling and two off days this week I am dropping down to a 3-man rotation with Tom Barrell (5-6,3.71) and Joe Shaffner (7-2, 2.67) each getting a pair of starts and Mike Murphy (8-2, 3.49) getting the other one. Barrell is also a bit of a concern as my ace, while still pitching well is a fair bit off of his pace of last season. Tom almost seems like he alternates a great year with just a good year as his production thus far seems much closer to his average 1933 season than his very strong 1932 and Allen Award winning 1934 campaigns.

I knew going in to the season there was little chance Barrell would duplicate his amazing 1934 campaign but I had hoped he would be closer, although there is still plenty of time left for him to pick things up.

Mike Murphy is on track for another 20-win season and while not quite as dominant as he was a year ago he is still having a great season and was named CA pitcher of the month for May after winning all 7 of his starts with a 1.80 era. The big positive for us has been Joe Shaffner as the 31 year old New York City native is off to the best start of his career. We acquired him last season from St Louis at the cost of a very good pitching prospect in Dixie Lee with the idea he would be the #4 starter and step into the #3 role in a couple seasons when Carpenter started to falter. Fortunately we made that move as there are fears Carpenter is faltering earlier than we had expected.

I made a couple of roster moves this week with the pitchers. Max Wilder, who had appeared in just 1 game for us, and Jack Beach, who had not pitched for Brooklyn since coming over from Detroit, were both sent down to AAA. The main purpose was to get them some innings to see which I could trust if I need to use one of them to replace Carpenter in the rotation. I am not 100% decided on Carpenter being exiled to the pen beyond the short week this sim, but I did recall 23 year old lefthander Art White from Rochester.

White, a former third round pick out of George Fox University, had been out since midway through spring training when he suffered a hamstring injury. The lefthander was the #39 ranked prospect in the game but just dropped off the list I assume because of major league service time. OSA calls him a future rotation anchor and my scouting director John Spears, while slightly less optimistic, feels the lefthander can become a very good starting pitcher. The question is whether that time is now. White had a pair of pretty good starts in Rochester last week, which is what I had hoped as the plan was all along to call him up after a tune-up week in AAA. He will spend this week in the pen where he may or may not get a chance to pitch. Unless he does pitch and really struggles I am planning on giving him a start over Carpenter the next time I need a #4 starter, which likely won't be until the middle of the month against Chicago. White made his Kings debut last year, going 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA before being sent down to the minors when I added vets Shaffner and Wilder.

The second call-up was a position player as I do not need 9 pitchers on the big league roster. I was debating between Phil Vaughan, Art Summers and Rabbit Mudd before finally deciding on the middle infielder Mudd who was slashing .362/.399/.604 in AAA while providing plus defense at shortstop. The purpose of the call-up was to give me an extra bat as a pinch-hitter but Mudd also gives me another defensive option to replace second sacker Jake Shadoan in late inning situations when needed. Mudd and my other utility middle infielder Walt Layton are both capable of being very good starting shortstops in this league but they have the misfortune of slotting behind Harry Barrell, who is arguably the best SS in FABL. I would like to move one of them and will have to at some point but I am not going to just give either of them away.

Mudd got the callup partly to showcase him a little bit in Brooklyn for a potential trade but also to help me decide whether it is he or Layton I want to keep long term as my utility infielder. I really debated recalling Art Summers, who you may recall was demoted early in the season after a terrible start. The 28 year old, who has played 661 games in a Kings uniform, has hit well in Rochester (.326,3,18 in 26 games) but I went with Mudd instead. The other choice was 30 year old first baseman Phil Vaughan (.303,16,37) who has been outstanding in Rochester since we claimed the former Chicago Cougar (230 FABL games) off of waivers early in the season. Vaughan would strictly be a pinch-hitter but he will likely find himself in Brooklyn at some point during the season, although perhaps not before the September roster expansion.

As for the offense I don't think there is anywhere I can upgrade our starting lineup as all 8 of the everyday players are what I would consider to be all-star calibre, with second year 3B John Langille (.320,4,31) and rookie centerfielder Bill May (.302,1,16) the only ones who have not actually played in an all-star game. Langille should have been there last season after hitting .359 and was first or second in league batting average at the break a year ago. He would get a chance this year - at least not as a starter- as he was left off the ballot with Frank Vance being placed there as our 3B candidate despite the fact Vance has been moved to 1B.

A short week this time with just 5 games, all on the road. We open in Baltimore for two and finish with a weekend 3 game set against the New York Stars. So while we are playing the bottom two teams in the Continental Association, the Cleveland Foresters are also on the road against the Chicago Cougars and Philadelphia Sailors. Far too early for scoreboard watching but this is a week we need to win 4, if not sweep, and perhaps add a little more room between us and Cleveland. The Stars normally give us trouble but we are 7-2 against them this season while Baltimore is the only team against whom we have a losing record at 3-4. The Foresters have losing records against both the Cougars and Sailors this season but that is primarily due to playing them early when Cleveland was struggling.

Tiger Fan · 02-18-2021, 09:35 PM

KINGS STRETCH LEAD TO 6 GAMES

After winning 9 of their last 12 games the Brooklyn Kings have extended their lead atop the Continental Association to 6 games over the Cleveland Foresters and 9.5 ahead of third place Philadelphia. Two weeks ago the Kings went 4-1 sweeping last place Baltimore in a two game set before winning two of three over the Stars in New York. Last week was another 4 win sim with a split of a 4-game series at home against the Philadelphia Stars before taking 2 in a row from Chicago on the weekend. The Kings have two more with Chicago before another showdown with Cleveland as the Foresters come to Kings County Ballpark for a 4 game set beginning Wednesday.

The offense continues to roll with Frank Vance being the latest King to earn CA player of the week honours. The 33 year old had a slow introduction to Brooklyn after being acquired along with Al Wheeler in the huge May deal with Detroit but Vance is starting to live up to his reputation, hitting .455 in June including .619 last week when he went 13 for 21 with 8 rbi's. Wheeler has been everything we hoped for right from the moment he arrived in Brooklyn, with 13 homers and 41 rbi's in 32 games since the trade including 8 dingers in the past two weeks. In fact the entire offense is doing just fine right now with only two regulars, Jake Shadoan and catcher Fred Barrell, hitting under .300.

Pitching remains a bit of a worry as Tom Barrell (8-7, 3.58) continues to be merely ordinary this season but Joe Shaffner (9-3, 3.09) remains an integral piece of the rotation and is tied for the team lead in wins despite receiving the least amount of run support in his starts. Mike Murphy (9-3, 4.22) has had some very good games but also some poor ones such as allowing 10 runs (7 earned) against Philadelphia in a game last week. The offense bailed him out though and he still got the win in an 11-10 result. Speaking of offense, Art White can't ask for much more from our bats in his two starts since replacing Ken Carpenter in the rotation. White pitched 7 innings in a 13-6 win over Philadelphia early in the week and followed it up with a complete game 11-3 win over the Chicago Cougars yesterday. The 37 year old Carpenter (5-5, 5.11) will remain in the pen at least for now but he is the final relief option and pitched to just 1 batter the past two weeks.

ANOTHER TRADE

The Kings made another minor move this week in an effort to recoup draft picks. Rabbit Mudd is a promising young SS/2B that was drafted 15th overall out of Milwaukee High School in 1929. He has played a total of 274 games with the big club and has a .260 lifetime average but since Brooklyn added Harry Barrell he has spent most of his time in AAA Rochester for whom he is batting .362 with 6 homers this season. Mudd is in his last option year so I felt the time was right to move him and give him the opportunity to play regularly in the major leagues. Brooklyn dealt him to the New York Gothams, who are looking to add some offense in the middle infield without sacrificing defense and Mudd certainly fits the bill.

In return Brooklyn picks up New York's second round pick in the December draft. That move and early trades of other players running out of options now give the Kings 5 picks in the first six rounds (3 fourths and a 6th rounder) to help recover some draft capital we greatly depleted with the decision to send our first 8 picks to Detroit in the Wheeler/Vance deal.

MINOR LEAGUES

The trade of Mudd likely opens the door for Phil Vaughan to be promoted to Brooklyn. A waiver wire pickup from the Chicago Cougars, the 30 year old first baseman is leading the Union League in homers with 20 and second in rbi's with 48 while batting .279 for Rochester. I am still debating on who to recall next Monday once Mudd officially vacates the roster but the odds are I will take Vaughan over outfielder Art Summers (.281,4,25) who had spent the previous 5 seasons in Brooklyn but was struggling this year and demoted after Wheeler was added to our outfield.

After multiple trades of prospects over the past season and a half we only have 1 player remaining in our system who is listed among the top 100 prospects. (Two if you count Art White who was recently removed from the list because he exceeded major league service time). Bob Cummings was selected 7th overall out of College of San Diego in the 1933 draft. He was solid in 3 levels a year ago and returned to AA Knoxville, where he finished last season, to start this campaign. He is 6-4 with a 3.26 era and an impressive 146 ERA+ so I plan to move the 22 year old up to AAA Rochester in the next couple of weeks. My Scouting Director John Spears is really high on Cummings and feels he has the talent to be a number one starter. Cummings is presently ranked 36th overall (13th among pitchers)

Brooklyn's top 4 prospects according to OSA are all pitchers. Pepper Tuttle and Jimmy Gibbs are a pair of 19 year old's ranked two and three in the Kings system. Tuttle was a fourth round pick out of Hartford High School in 1933 and after spending last season in Class C and beginning this year at the same level he was recently promoted to Class B Tampa. His outstanding curve is the best of his four solid pitches and he has plenty of movement. We project him as a back of the rotation guy. Gibbs was our 8th round pick out of Collinwood High School in Cleveland and is adapting nicely to pro ball at Class C Marshalltown. The record (2-5) and era (5.51) are not there yet but his ERA+ is about average and Spears sees his ceiling as perhaps a #3 starter but he is raw. The fourth pitcher is another former High Schooler, but Mule Earl is now 22. The Kings selected him in the 6th round of the 1931 draft and after 3 seasons in Class C we are trying him in B this year. The team is bad but Earl (1-8, 4.19) has been one of our better pitchers at that level. Tuttle is presently ranked 132nd among prospects by OSA, with Gibbs at 141st and Earl sitting in the 163rd slot.

After a hot start Brooklyn's first round pick last December has really struggled since his promotion to Class B. Outfielder Dan Rogers was taken out of Canton, Ohio 14th overall and he started the season as OSA's #51 ranked prospect. He was slashing .345/.381/.509 after 24 games at Marshalltown so I moved him up to Tampa but he has struggled in Class B with a slash line of .204/.231/.286 and has dropped to 194th on the OSA list. I hate to have to drop him back to C but it looks like that is going to have to happen.

The guy I should likely have taken instead of Rogers is the son of our bench coach Danny Goff. We had hoped Brooklyn native Jack Goff would have dropped to us in the second round but Toronto selected the younger Goff early in that round. So far Jack is looking very good at Vancouver of the Class B COW League. Speaking of sons of current Kings staff members, hitting coach and all-hit FABL hit king Powell Slocum's step-son James is off to a good start as a freshman at Brooklyn Xaverian High School. He hit .469 this season and, while not draft eligible until 1938, is being touted as a potential above average big league outfielder.

DRAFT PROSPECTS

So now that we have replenished our stock of draft picks somewhat I can start to focus a little more on the December draft. Our first pick won't be until late in the second round, barring any other trades, but there are some Brooklyn kids that are drawing interest from our scouting staff.

I might talk about the prospects from the other New York boroughs in the future as there are a bunch but here are the Brooklyn draft eligible players.

TONY BERMUDA - An outfielder at Jefferson High School, the 18 year old has the potential to hit over .300 but the worry is he won't develop the power needed to play regularly as a corner outfielder. He hit .446 with just 1 homer in 20 games at Jefferson High this season.

LEON CAVASOS - The pride of St Edmund Prep has committed to Cumberland University after going 9-2 with a 1.41 era over two prep seasons. An 18 year old lefthander is a groundball pitcher with pinpoint control that had been the beneficiary of some talk that he might have been a first round pick. However, he did not advance as much as hoped this season and may be the type of player available when the Kings pick late in the second round.

JIM COULTER - Born in Bayonne, NJ, the 21 year old second baseman is a junior at Brooklyn State. He has hit .286 with 3 homers and 82 rbi's in 109 college games. Has outstanding speed but there are doubts if he can hit well enough at the next level to be able to take advantage of it.

CHUBBY HALL - The Westinghouse High outfielder is pegged as a potential second division starter after hitting .535 with 6 homers in 23 games this season - his only one of high school ball.

CLINT HAMILTON- A 17 year old lefthander from South Shore High, Hamilton is considered very raw at the moment. He did go 5-2 with a 2.50 era this season and is 8-4, 2.38 over two years at South Shore but projects to have the upside of a bullpen piece only.

ORVILLE KING - A 21 year old outfielder who grew up in Brooklyn and now plays for Brooklyn Catholic University. Scouts love his work ethic and defensive skills but he will need to work on his hitting if he wants to be considered a prospect. Hit .279 with 5 homers and 88 rbi's over two seasons with Brooklyn Catholic.

ANDY LICANO - Born in Puerto Rico but his family recently moved to Brooklyn. The 18 year old catcher attends Fort Hamilton High School and has been very consistent, batting .438 in each of his two seasons. He is a strong defensive catcher but likely projects to be at best a backup catcher in the big leagues.

SPUD NICHOLS - Scouts give little chance for the 18 year old from Lincoln High School to ever develop enough to challenge for a major league job.

BILL SEABOLT - The Brooklyn born 20 year old is a junior with Central Ohio University. He has gone 15-9 with a 3.17 era over two seasons with the Aviators and looks like a potential middle of the rotation starter.

LUIS TAPIA - Nicknamed El Marmota, Tapia went 8-2 with a 1.72 era in his only season at Madison High School after moving to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico last year. He has committed to Grange College but the lefthander could be taken in the first few rounds of the draft. He is said to have the upside potential to be a number 2 starter one day.

ED WATSON - The 21 year old righthander is a teammate of Coulter's at Brooklyn State. He came east from San Diego to play his college ball and has the makings of a mid-rotation starter. He had a better sophomore season that he performed this year but is 12-10, 3.90 over two seasons with the school.

Tiger Fan · 02-22-2021, 08:55 AM

JULY 1, 1935
LEAD IS SHRINKING

The Brooklyn Kings endured their first losing sim of the season two weeks ago, going 3-4 but followed it up with a 4-2 sim this week. Unfortunately, the Cleveland Foresters won 5 of 6 this past week and our lead is now just 4 games atop the Continental Association. With the July 4th holiday everyone has a doubleheader that day so we will play 8 games this week, as will the Foresters.

Two weeks ago we led by 6 games but Cleveland is chipping away as they gained a game back each week and now it is getting a little too tight for my liking.

The Kings captured a bunch of hardware this past week with the best news being Tom Barrell (11-8, 3.35) was named the pitcher of the month after posting a 6-2 record in 8 June starts. Barrell had a slow, at least by his standards, start to the season but hopefully turned the corner after two outstanding outings last week. First he allowed just 4 hits in a 6-3 win over Toronto and then tossed his best game of the season, a 2 hit shutout of Montreal on Saturday. Each of my top three starters have 11 wins now, which is tops in the league. Al Wheeler just keeps on belting homeruns since coming over from Detroit in May. Wheeler was named both batter of the month for June and player of the week. In fact the player of the week award was his second in a row and third in a 4 week span. Since coming to the Kings Wheeler is hitting .411 with 17 homers and 56 rbi's in 45 games.

With the extra games I will need to use a fourth starter so vetern Ken Carpenter is going to get one more chance in the rotation. The 37 year old was terrific for us last year, going 16-6 with a 3.63 era since coming over from Baltimore early in the season but he has struggled this season (5-5, 4.98) in 12 starts before being exiled to the pen. He has made three appearances out of the pen and looked pretty good, so after rookie Art White struggled against Cleveland in his last start nearly 3 weeks ago, I have decided to hand the ball to Carpenter this week. The offense continues to roll along so I will make no changes there this week.

We begin the week at home with 3 games against 7th place Baltimore before the New York Stars make a quick stop in Kings County Ballpark for a doubleheader on the 4th. From there we head across the border to Montreal for a 3-game weekend send against the Saints just before Monday's All-Star game. It was against the Saints that we lost two of three this past weekend.

Speaking of the All-Star Break, I need to cast my ballot today.

Here are my selections for the Federal Association

PITCHERS - Sam Sheppard (13-4, 2.94) is having an amazing season in St Louis, especially considering he was a rule V pickup from Detroit 4 years ago and has gone 60-41, 3.98 over his 3 and a half years with the Pioneers. Former Cleveland Forester Walter Murphy (9-5, 2.99), who was dealt to Pittsburgh just before opening day, and New York Gothams righthander Hardin Bates (7-6, 2.61), the reigning FA Allen Award winner who leads the loop in ERA this season, round out my starting pitchers. There are a couple more starters I would like to pick but the game only allows 3 starters as it requires two relievers to be on the ballot. Due to the era I will follow the suggestion of another GM in our league and not vote for any relievers out of protest.

CATCHER - Hard to ignore what 21 year old George Cleaves (.351,7,51) is doing in Pittsburgh but I have to give my vote to John Wicklund (.336,13,53) of the Gothams.

FIRST BASE - Another tough choice but I will take Fred McCormick (.337,15,75) of St Louis over Rankin Kellogg of Philadelphia (.324,19,67). Chicago's Bob Martin (.325,6,41) is another solid performer here.

SECOND BASE - Andy Carter (.321.0.16)is having a nice year with Washington but this is not even close. St Louis' Freddie Jones (.372,3,38), who's younger brother Al was recently named AIAA college player of the year, is a no-brainer.

THIRD BASE- There are some third basemen in the Fed having strong seasons. Chief Raymond (.358,4,24) is one of the few bright spots remaining in Detroit after the fire sale. Chicago's Len Jones (.373,5,53) and Mel Carroll (.310,5,38) are also playing well as is Johnny McDowell (.350, 0,26) of the New York Gothams. Jones is leading the FA in batting average at this writing so I will give him the nod over McDowell.

SHORTSTOP - This one is between Earl Michael (.326,1,36) of St Louis and Bob Barringer (.320,1,27) who was recently dealt from Detroit to Chicago. I am voting for Barringer with his defensive skills being the deciding factor.

LEFT FIELD- A tough choice here but I am going to reward veteran Jim Hampton (.331,6,52) for another strong season in Chicago but Philadelphia's Rip Curry (.361,6,30), New York's Moxie Pidgeon (.289,13,53) made it a very tough call.

CENTER FIELD- There is no shortage of candidates but Boston's Chick Donnelly (.364,7,46) stands above them all and is a fan favourite.

RIGHT FIELD - Easy choice in Bobby Barrell (.334,15,61) of Philadelphia but there are some quality rightfielders in the Fed including Doug Lightbody's younger brother Frank (.338,1,48) of Pittsburgh and Washington Eagle Sam Brown (.335,11,46) who I came very close to selecting over Barrell.

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
I will try to not be overly biased but it is going to be tough not to pick a King at most positions.

STARTING PITCHING - Joe Shaffner (11-5, 3.08) not being on the ballot really bothers me as he deserves to be there. I will take Tom Barrell (11-8, 3.35) after his amazing season last year and the fact he is now tied for the CA win lead following a slow start. I also have to reward Mike Murphy (11-3,3.92) for his great work this season but that means I can only take one of William Jones (10-5, 3.96) of Philadelphia, Dutch Leverett (7-6, 3.65) from Baltimore, Chicago's Dick Luedtke (10-5, 4.73), Doc Newell (8-6, 3.46) from Philadelphia and Montreal's George Thomas (8-4, 3.52). In the end I go with Jones but sure hope Thomas makes the team as a reserve.

CATCHER - TR Goins (.283,9,42) may be down in production a bit this year but the Cleveland slugger is always an all-star in my books. I hope Brooklyn's Fred Barrell (.281,2,29) gets a spot on the team but it looks doubtful with Baltimore's Joe Welch (.314,10,34), Montreal rookie Tom Bird (.325,5,34) and the New York Stars Speed Davis (.328,6,34) all in the mix.

FIRST BASE - Don't even need to look at the stats. As long as he is starting in this league Max Morris (.325,10,47) is my pick. Sorry Vic Crawford, Dave Trowbridge and Dick Walker but that is the way it is.

SECOND BASE - I couldn't take George Cleaves as my catcher for the FA, but I won't make that mistake with his brother. Philadelphia's Jack Cleaves (.323,2,37) gets my vote over Bill Ashbaugh (.343,5,30) of the Chicago Cougars, Brooks Meeks (.332,4,30) of Cleveland and Brooklyn's Jake Shadoan (.303,5,37)

THIRD BASE - I feel bad for Brooklyn's John Langille as he does not make the ballot because Frank Vance (.365,6,57 combined Det/Bkn) gets the Kings nomination as he played third in Detroit but is our first baseman. Regardless Vance is my choice here but the Stars John Lawson (.382,4,40) will get a lot of support also.

SHORTSTOP- No homer bias here. Brooklyn's Harry Barrell (.377,1,41) is a name you can just check off on your CA ballot for the next decade. But George Dawson (.341,5,47) is having a great year in Cleveland.

LEFT FIELD - No offense to Leon Drake (.310,8,51) of Cleveland or Chicago's Doc Love (.324,11,51) but the clear choice is Brooklyn's Al Wheeler (.353,22,75 combined Det/Bkn) who already leads the CA in homers and is second in rbi's despite playing the first month of the season in the Fed.

CENTER FIELD - Mike Mason (.358,1,22) is having a career year at the plate with the New York Stars but his defense is suspect to say the least. Centerfield in the CA is a young mans game and at the risk of being called a homer I will give the nod to 22 year old Bill May (.308,1,27) of my Kings just ahead of Montreal's 24 year old Pablo Reyes (.309,2,27).

RIGHT FIELD- I so want to vote for Doug Lightbody (.349,3,45), who is having another great season in Brooklyn after seemingly on the downside of his career just two years ago but thanks to what Lou Kelly (.386,11,60) is doing for the Cougars the best I can do is hope Lightbody beats out Baltimore's Jim Mason (.356,6,45) for the backup spot.

Here are the CA players I voted for. The all-star game takes place one week from today.

01-23-2021, 08:56 PM	#221
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	December 1934 Draft : Day Two KINGS 1935 DRAFT PICKS DAY TWO Second half of the Kings draft had a heavy local look with three of the 4 selections coming from Brooklyn or New York City. For the entire draft five of the Kings 9 picks were either born in or attend school in New York including a pair of Brooklyn boys in outfielders Jack Hill (Hamilton HS) and Bob Mullins (Tilden HS). Other local selections includ New York natives Jake Wood (Henry Hudson University) and high schoolers Terry Cox (Henry Hudson Prep) and Ike Ray (Collegiate HS). The Kings also selected a pair of Ohio born players in first rounder Dan Rogers out of Canton South High School and 8th round selection Jimmy Gibbs, a pitcher from Cleveland's Collinwood High. Rounding out the picks were a pair of Texans in Houston native Tip Harrison, taken from Bluegrass State University and Port Arthur High School pitching sensation Gus Parker. Code: RD NAME POS HOMETWON SCHOOL 1 Dan Rogers RF Canton, OH Canton South HS 2 Tip Harrison SS Houston, TX Bluegrass State 3 Jake Wood LHP New York, NY Henry Hudson University 3 Bob Mullins CF Hartford, CT Tilden HS, Brooklyn 4 Gus Parker RHP Port Arthur, TX Port Arthur HS 6 Jack Hill LF Brooklyn, NY Hamilton HS, Brooklyn 8 Jimmy Gibbs RHP Cleveland, OH Collinwood HS, Cleveland 9 Terry Cox SS New York, NY Henry Hudson Prep HS, New York 10 Ike Ray C New York, NY Collegiate HS, New York ROUND 4 PICK 62: GUS PARKER RHP, PORT ARTHUR (TX) HIGH SCHOOL Parker was rated the 16th best pitcher and 62nd overall by Kings Scouting Director John Spears and 62nd is exactly where Brooklyn drafted the 18 year old righthander. He was 11-1 with a 1.36 ERA for Port Arthur High School and possess four pitches with the best of them being his changeup. He is 6'4" and OSA feels Parker has a ceiling of an ace. Spears likes him but is not anywhere near as high on Parker, figuring he might crack the bottom of the rotation. ROUND 6 PICK 94: JACK HILL OF, HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL, BROOKLYN Rated 90th by John Spears but came in at #50 in the final OSA mock draft. The Kings were thrilled to add the local kid and Spears feels he has a chance to contribute at the major league level. He has committed to Cumberland University but when contacted seem very excited to be drafted by his hometown team. He hit .494 in 23 high school games but only 2 homeruns although OSA feels the power will come and he has the potential to hit 20 a year once he grows into is 6'2" frame. ROUND 8 PICK 126: JIMMY GIBBS RHP, COLLINWOOD HIGH SCHOOL, CLEVELAND OH Spears is high on the diminutive 18 year old from Cleveland, feeling he has decent control and a solid slider in his four pitch repertoire. The ceiling for Gibbs is likely the back end of the rotation. He was 4-0 with a 1.72 era in limited action his senior year at Collinwood High School. Gibbs has committed to Bluegrass State. ROUND 9 PICK 142: TERRY COX SS, HENRY HUDSON PREP, NEW YORK, NY Another local kid as the Kings made it a priority to focus on Brooklyn area players. Surprisingly Cox has not committed to Henry Hudson University but instead will play for Chesapeake State if Brooklyn is unable to sign him. OSA raves about his speed and his ability to make contact while Spears likes his range but notes he has some trouble scooping balls out of the dirt. But he is young and will have plenty of time to develop in the Kings minor league system. He was ranked 111th on John Spears' board and I had him as a round 4-7 prospect in what was a deep class of shortstop talent. ROUND 10 PICK 158: IKE RAY C, COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL, NEW YORK, NY The trend of drafting local continues with the addition of the 18 year old catcher from New York City. Ray has committed to Topeka State University but is expected to sign with the Kings. John Spears had him ranked 108th on his board in what was a weak group of catchers aside from the couple of high end guys at the top. OSA is optimistic Ray could develop in to an everyday catcher in FABL but Spears feels he is more likely to be strictly a back-up. He hit .400 with 3 homers in 20 games for Collegiate HS. The remaining 15 rounds of our draft in Figment Baseball will be done on autodraft in game. INITIAL DRAFT ASSESSMENT Overall I like a number of the picks we made but I can't help but think this draft could have been incredible for the Kings, had I made some slightly different decisions. To start with I mentioned Bob Donoghue was the guy I really wanted in round one but I had no control over that as he was selected by Boston before my pick came up. At that point I took another outfielder with power potential in Dan Rogers with the hope the pitcher I really wanted - Jack Goff, son of our bench coach Danny Goff would be available in round two. Goff was snapped up by Toronto early in the second round and the Wolves, under interim management by the league office after the team's executive group went awol, thwarted me at every turn this draft. Names to remember that Toronto took and were guys I was considering but went another option hoping they would last one more round included college pitcher Charlie Philips, who I had traded up for only to see him go one pick prior, and college outfielder Alf Pestilli, who I decided to wait one more round on and took Bob Mullins instead. Pestilli is the oldest of three Italian immigrant outfielders who all some to have great potential, especially the middle brother Sal, who was named National College Player of the Year as a freshman. So Kings fans should watch the careers of Jack Goff, Charlie Philips and Alf Pestilli very closely and wonder what might have been. Hopefully Dan Rogers, Tip Harrison and the rest of my picks make me forget the three I missed on as we go forward. Finally, I say it every draft in this league but there is nothing like the challenge and fun of a FABL draft. The owners are great as we completed 10 rounds on slack in two days and unlike a league with ratings visible, stats only makes every draft choice an agonizing debate on who to choose and you can very easily land a superstar with a middle round pick, meaning every pick we make means something. If you are enjoying this dynasty and the many others about the league on the dynasty board and you are not already on the league waiting list, what is stopping you? __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-25-2021, 09:41 PM	#222
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	KINGS COMPLETE 1934 DRAFT CLASS IS INTRODUCED The first 10 rounds of our 25 round draft are done by human GM's and then the game AI takes over to finish off the draft. Not an overly impressive group of final 15 for the Kings but here is who we ended up with in the 1934 draft. Code: RD NAME POS HOMETWON SCHOOL 1 Dan Rogers RF Canton, OH Canton South HS 2 Tip Harrison SS Houston, TX Bluegrass State 3 Jake Wood LHP New York, NY Henry Hudson University 3 Bob Mullins CF Hartford, CT Tilden HS, Brooklyn 4 Gus Parker RHP Port Arthur, TX Port Arthur HS 6 Jack Hill LF Brooklyn, NY Hamilton HS, Brooklyn 8 Jimmy Gibbs RHP Cleveland, OH Collinwood HS, Cleveland 9 Terry Cox SS New York, NY Henry Hudson Prep HS, New York 10 Ike Ray C New York, NY Collegiate HS, New York 11 Hal Reynolds CF New York, NY Maryland State 12 Bill Ramsey LHP Philadelphia, PA Gratz HS, Philadelphia 13 Jimmie Field 3B Brooklyn, NY Wilkes-Barre HS, Wilkes Barre, Pa. 14 Rudy Finch LHP Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis HS 15 Tommy Morris C Howell, MI Howell HS 16 Sam Burnham 2B Newman, GA Torrance HS, Torrance, California 17 Barney Murray LHP Detroit, MI Chadsey HS, Detroit 18 Jim Bob Turner RHP Roanoke, AL Roanoke HS 21 Ismael Suarez RHP Bayamon, PR Gompers HS, Bronx NY 22 Homer Tait 3B Greensboro, NC North Carolina Tech 23 Babe Musgrove RHP Hemet, CA East Texas State 24 Joe Dickinson C Glassboro, NJ Tulsa HS, Tulsa, OK 25 Rube Devaney 1B Manhattan Beach, CA College of San Diego I won't talk about each of the final 15 as very few are expected to progress far in our system but I will mention a few. Let's start with the local products and I like that the AI GM continued my trend of drafting Brooklyn area players. HAL REYNOLDS- The New York City native who played his college ball at Maryland State debuts at #37 on our team prospect list. Our 11th round pick, Reynolds has a bit of power according to our scouting director John Spears and is a very solid defender in center field but the concern is his ability to make contact. Spears does think he might have a chance to be a reserve player in the big leagues. BILL RAMSEY- 12th round pick has his heart set on college and playing for Red River State. He is listed as impossible to sign but I made him an offer and we will see what happens. He possesses a 6-pitch arsenal but none are considered exceptionally strong. JIMMIE FIELD- Like Ramsey, our 13th round pick is looking to college having signed a commitment letter with baseball powerhouse Eastern State. Born in Brooklyn but grew up in Pennsylvania, scout John Spears loves his athleticism but feels he will be unlikely to contribute at the big league level. TOMMY MORRIS - Our 15th round selection is rated the number 3 catching prospect in the organization, one slot ahead of Ike Ray, who I drafted 5 rounds ahead of Morris. Scouting Director John Spears feels the Howell, Michigan high schooler should develop the ability to contribute at the major league level, but more of a supplement than a star. SAM BURNHAM - Our 16th round pick immediately becomes our top second base prospect (24th on the team list overall) but that is by default as we have very little young talent at second. John Spears thinks he can hit .300 if he gets a shot in the big leagues so he just might get to Brooklyn some day. The 18 year old hit .485 for his high school team in Torrance, California. Was born in Georgia but family moved out west when he was young. HOMER TAIT- Our 22nd round pick out of North Carolina Tech cracked the OSA top 500 prospect list, landing at 411 and number 19 on our team list. He may drop out of the top 100 once all of the other draftees sign but it is nice to see such a late round pick make the list, even if it's just temporary. Tait hit .315 for the Techsters as a junior last season and has decided to forego his senior season and turn pro. JOE DICKINSON- I was considering Dickinson as my 10th round pick but settled on Ike Ray instead so it is nice to land him here in the 23rd round. He runs well for a catcher, has a good batting eye and plays decent defense. He hit .414 for his high school team in Tulsa last season. By the way, early results show I made the right choice in taking Ray over Dickinson as Ray ranked 4th among our catching prospects while Dickinson is listed 9th. RUBE DEVANEY- Our 25th round pick cracked the top 500 league-wide prospects at 474. The first baseman from College of San Diego hit .298 with 5 homers for the Friars last season. The scouts like his ability to make contact and say he could develop average power. SIGNING UPDATE Most of our top picks have asked for a signing bonus and we have made offers to all of them and are hopeful everyone except for 12th round Bill Ramsey will sign. 8th round Jimmy Gibbs and 10th round pick Ike Ray are the only ones I selected who signed immediately and we received great news on Gibbs as the 18 year old from Cleveland adds to our deep group of talented pitching prospects by being ranked 148th overall in the current OSA top prospects list. Ike Ray did not make the top 500 and is ranked 4th among our catchers. The big news will hopefully come in the next couple of days as we see were our higher round picks slot in on the league prospect rankings. It should change quite a bit as the new guys sign but here are the Kings top 20 prospects as of early December, 1934. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles Last edited by Tiger Fan; 01-25-2021 at 09:45 PM.

01-26-2021, 12:10 PM	#223
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	December 24, 1934 December 24, 1934 KINGS MOVE CLASS A AFFILIATE The Brooklyn Kings long-time relationship with the city of Omaha has come to an end as the Kings have decided to relocate their Class A affiliate to Springfield of the Heartland League. Brooklyn was not the only team to leave the Western Baseball League as Detroit and Toronto also moved their affiliates due to a growing competitive disadvantage. According to Kings Assistant General Manager Jim Golden it was just becoming to difficult to field a team that could compete in that loop as the five independent teams all had sufficient revenue to sign a boatload of of former big league and AAA players. "We could have gone the same route and stocked Omaha with higher level talent but it would have been at the expense of developing our young players to one day play in Brooklyn," explained Golden. "We have been associated with the Cowboys for decades and enjoyed great success in Omaha but unfortunately we had no choice but to relocate our affiliate. We wish the city of Omaha and the ownership group of the Cowboys great success as they continue as an independent team. The Cowboys won 2 Western League and 5 Heartland League titles while an affiliate of the Kings. For Brooklyn it is a return to the Heartland League where the Cowboys once played. The Springfield club, known as the Hustlers, joined the Class A loop in 1929 and have yet to win a pennant but they did finish second in 1933. Toronto and Detroit also shift to the Heartland League with the Wolves assuming control of the Davenport Dusters while the Dynamos will be the parent club of the Terre Haute Brewers. KINGS SIGN ALL BUT ONE DRAFT PICK The Brooklyn Kings are pleased to announce that all but 12th round selection Bill Ramsey have agreed to contracts with the club and will join the organization. Ramsey is the lone exception, as the lefthander from Gratz High School in Philadelphia is set on continuing his education. Ramsey will play for the Red River State Rowdies college club based in Denison, Texas. With most of the top draftees now under contract the Kings received some very good news from OSA on the overall prospect rankings as 7 draftees are ranked in the top 236 prospects in the league including a pair in the top 100. First round pick Dan Rogers, an 18 year old outfielder from Canton, Ohio tops the list at 51st overall and 10th among all outfielders. Second rounder Tip Harrison, a 23 year old shortstop from Bluegrass State is 9th at his position and 68th overall. Others include 18 year old lefthander Jack Wood, a New York City native, who is ranked 84th on the list after being selected with the Kings first pick of the third round. With their second third round selection Brooklyn drafted centerfielder Bob Mullins from Brooklyn's Tilden High School. The 19 year old comes in at 166th on the OSA prospect list. Fourth rounder Gus Parker, an 18 year old righthander out of Port Arthur, Texas slots in as the Kings 9th best prospect and 177th overall. 8th rounder Jimmy Gibbs, a high school righthander from Cleveland, Ohio is 210th and 6th rounder Jack Hill, who played his high school ball at Brooklyn's Hamilton High, is 236th on the top prospect list. NO MOVEMENT IN RULE FIVE DRAFT The Kings were quiet on the rule five draft as they did not claim a player, nor did they lose anyone. They may not be so lucky in the minor league phase which is being conducted today. GM TIGER FAN STAYING PUT The Toronto Wolves general manager position has opened up but there is absolutely no truth to the rumour that Brooklyn boss Tiger Fan is moving north. A year ago he had been rumoured to be on his way out after a pair of terrible starts to the two previous seasons but after Brooklyn's run to within a game of claiming the Continental Association pennant the GM and owner Daniel Prescott have patched up their differences and Tiger Fan plans to remain in Brooklyn in an effort to lead the team to it's first World Championship Series. Tiger Fan has been at the helm of the franchise since the winter of 1926 and guided the club to a pennant in 1927 and a pair of second place finishes but the Kings are the only team in either the Continental or the Federal Association that has never won the World Championship Series. "I feel we have unfinished business here," stated Tiger Fan, " and I intend to stick around and complete the job. There is absolutely no truth to any rumour I might wish to move back to my native Canada and take on the task of rebuilding the Wolves." The Wolves have not had a winning season since 1927 and have not finished higher than sixth since then. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-28-2021, 08:55 PM	#224
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	February 4, 1935- reprinted from The Figment Sporting Journal February 4, 1935 WILL THIS FINALLY BE THE YEAR FOR KINGS FANS? courtesy of the Figment Sporting Journal As long suffering fans of the Brooklyn Kings know all too well, their beloved ball club is now in a class by itself. Unfortunately, it is not a class you want to be a part of and after the Cleveland Foresters finally ended 42 years of waiting for a World Championship Series victory, the Kings stand alone as the only one of the 16 Federally Aligned Baseball League franchises to never win a World Championship Series title. Brooklyn has given it's fans three Continental Association pennants with the most recent one in 1927, and then came so agonizingly close last season to getting a chance to end their WCS drought, only to fall a game short of the Foresters and have to settle for second place. The Kings club that takes the field in two months time is expected to be virtually identical to the one that charged back from 8 games behind the Foresters in July to take the lead in early September only to see Cleveland get red-hot and close out the pennant win on the final day of the season. Brooklyn's team may well be the most talented club the franchise has ever assembled so anything short of a trip to the Series in October will have to be considered a failure. The problem for Brooklyn fans is Cleveland certainly feels the same way. The Foresters gutted their farm system to load up on veteran stars like Max Morris (.320,26,123), T.R. Goins (.349,12,87) and Charlie Berry (.325,15,96). The move paid off and they got their title but, while the window might be closing soon, it remains wide open this season for the aging Cleveland stars to look for a return trip to the Series. The offense, while aging, should be just as strong as it was last season and the pitching rotation led by 25 year old Dean Astle (17-7) and 27 year old Roger Perry (19-9), is in it's prime. Add in the fact that the distractions created by soon to be former club owner Elmer Marshall and his threats to move the team are gone, and this Cleveland team can now focus entirely on a repeat victory. The Chicago Cougars may also be a threat with a lineup full of mashers of their own, including Tom Taylor (.294,31,116), Joe Masters (.315,18,109), Doc Love (.325,21,98) and Lou Kelly (.301,16,109). However the absence of ace Tommy Wilcox, who likely won't be able to return until at least July after blowing it his arm last summer, may mean the Cougars will have difficulty keeping pace with the Foresters and Kings this season. Fear not spoiled Chicago fans, who won pennants in 1931 and 1933 and a WCS in the first of those title years, as the Cougars system is loaded with blue chip prospects and they will be a team to fear if not this summer then likely in 1936. The Philadelphia Sailors were a mini-dynasty to end the last decade, winning 3 straight pennants and a pair of WCS between 1928-30 but since then they have been stuck in the purgatory that is mediocrity, finishing fourth or fifth each of the past four seasons. Neither the Sailors or the New York Stars should ever be counted out. The Stars won three straight World Championships from 1924-26 and another one in 1932 before falling to third each of the past two seasons. The Montreal Saints have shown glimpses of success every so often but they ultimately sink to the second division every year but things might be different now that they have a new General Manager after the previous boss mjj55409 split for the Chicago Chiefs of the Federal Association. Fellow Canadian club Toronto also has a new GM as JaBurns left the Chiefs for the chance to run a team in his native country but he may have bitten off more than he can chew as the Wolves have been bad, historically bad for close to a decade. Over the last 7 years Toronto's record is 417-661 for a .387 winning percentage. The Wolves lost 105 games in 1932 and 104 in 1930, a mark of futility only surpassed one other time (108 by the 1911 Philadelphia Sailors) in either the CA or the Fed since FABL began in 1893. The Wolves will battle the Baltimore Cannons, a team that will be entering year two of a full blown rebuild this April and started that rebuild by finishing with 100 losses, the most in either league a year ago. Which leaves us with your beloved Brooklyn Kings. The Kings biggest obstacle to a pennant will once again be the Foresters but Brooklyn enters the season with an almost identical roster to the one that they finished last year with. There are very few holes in the lineup. The offense was the most prolific in the Continental Association and the pitching rotation had three great starters by year end. The only question marks are can the key players duplicate their achievements of a year ago? Questions like: Is third baseman John Langille (.359,10,100), who challenged all year for the batting title before settling for second place, the real thing or just another 1 year wonder in the Kings quest to find a reliable third sacker? The bet here is Langille will man the hot corner in Brooklyn for years to come and even make some trips to the all-star game. Can Doug Lightbody (.371,7,85) stay healthy? After a pair of injury plagued seasons the 30 year old came back with a vengeance this past season, winning the second batting title of his career and enjoying his most productive season since 1930. The key was Lightbody did not spend a single day on the DL. Can that happen again? I would be less certain of that and apparently the Kings are as well as they hedged their bets by acquiring veteran corner outfielder Joe Perret (.322,14,88) from the New York Gothams over the winter as insurance. Are Harry Barrell(.344,3,81) and Jake Shadoan (.340,14,81) going to be the best middle infield tandem in either league over the next decade? Barrell certainly will be a star and a Whitney Award or two might be in his future but there are concerns in Brooklyn about Shadoan's work with the glove and the 26 year old may eventually need to be shifted to first base but that would mean benching Harry's brother Dan Barrell (.329,11,97), a player who seemed to will himself to becoming a dominant ballplayer in his late twenties after being out of baseball for 3 years earlier in his career. Will the starting pitching hold up? That has always been the question in Brooklyn but the trio of Tom Barrell (29-3), Mike Murphy (21-7) and Ken Carpenter (19-8) were dominant a year ago. It seems unlikely Barrell will approach 29 wins again as the question surrounding him is whether last year was the stepping stone that takes the 26 year old to stardom in this league or was it the pinnacle of what will turn out to just be a decent career? Age is the big worry with Carpenter. He will turn 37 during the season but made the all-star team for the second straight year and insists he is in the best shape of his life and loving baseball in Brooklyn. Mike Murphy is 27 and while he may not win twenty every year, he looks like he should be a very strong #2 starter for the foreseeable future. Who are the number four and five starters? It was a problem last year finding depth in the rotation. 30 year old Joe Shaffner, a New York City native, returned home after a midseason deal with St Louis but he was inconsistent for the Kings down the stretch. Brooklyn gave up a prize pitching prospect in Dixie Lee to acquire Shaffner and they need him to perform this season for the club to be successful. The other option was also a trade deadline pickup last summer but 37 year old Max Wilder, who was acquired from Boston, hurt his shoulder early in his time with the Kings and never got untracked. If one or both of those two struggle the Kings will likely need to start working the phones to add another arm, or hope that either Art White or Bob Cummings - a pair of highly touted prospects- are ready to step it up and contribute to the rotation. Brooklyn certainly looks well poised to contend once again and fans in Brooklyn are hoping for the parallels between 1926-27 and the current edition of the club to continue. The 1926 team rebounded from a last place finish the year before to finish second, just two games out of first. They were led offensively by a hotshot rookie named Doug Lightbody and added a pair of veteran arms at the trade deadline in Mose Smith and Del Plummer, only to see one them injured shortly after being acquired and the Kings had to settle for second. The 1934 club still had Lightbody but the hotshot rookie was John Langille. They also added two veteran arms in Shaffner and Wilder only to lose one of them with an injury which helped prevent them from winning the pennant. The 1927 season was a dogfight, with 4 teams finishing within 2 games and the Kings ultimately winning their third pennant by just one game over Philadelphia and Toronto and two up on Cleveland. That might be a little too much suspense for Kings fans to suffer through after last season but they would love to see a result that finally gives their team a chance to erase the ignominy of being the club to never win a World Championship Series. A lot will change and certainly did a year ago with all of the teams making deadline moves but the early line of thinking from this reporter is it will be another down to the wire race between Brooklyn and Cleveland. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports

01-31-2021, 03:28 PM	#225
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	1935 Spring Training Preview LITTLE EXPECTED TO CHANGE WITH 1935 KINGS ROSTER This is the 10th season I have been in charge of the Brooklyn Kings and the first time I can recall where I really had no battles expected for starting roles in spring training. Odds are we will likely pull the trigger on some sort of deal before the deadline at the end of July but right now I am extremely comfortable with our current roster and feel we have the talent to win the pennant. The challenge will be for everyone to stay healthy but I am hoping we have enough depth to withstand most injuries and still a deep enough farm system to pull the trigger if we need to add a top talent to fill a void caused by injury. Here is a look at the expected roster which is going to be nearly identical to the one that finished a game back of Cleveland in last year's Continental Association pennant chase. CATCHER - FRED BARRELL (.280,9,81) is 29 years old and firmly entrenched as our everyday catcher. He was an all-star last season and was MVP of the 1931 World Championship Series when he played for the Chicago Cougars. A terrific defensive catcher and solid with the bat. 31 year old BILL SMITH (.264,0,12) will remain the backup although that is in name only as Smith is certainly capable of starting in this league. FIRST BASE - DAN BARRELL (.329,11,97) continues to amaze us at how he made himself an above average big league hitter in his late twenties. Now 30 years old he is a key weapon for us at the plate but remains a defensive liability. SECOND BASE - 1929 first round pick JAKE SHADOAN (.340,14,81) led the CA in hits for the second year in a row last season and received MVP votes. He is listed as the 6th best second baseman in FABL but that is not because of his offensive skills, which are top notch. Defense, on the other hand, can be an adventure but the former second team All-American from Liberty College is improving in that regard. SHORTSTOP - HARRY BARRELL (.344,381) is just 21 but already a two time All-Star and the best shortstop in the game. He is not only one of the best pure hitters in the sport but also a defensive wizard at shortstop. Harry's 9.2 WAR last season was the highest in either association. There are a pair of back-up infielders that will likely both make the trip north once with the big club once again in RABBIT MUDD (.297,2,30 at AAA) and WALT LAYTON (.244,0,5) with both being capable defenders at either second or short. THIRD BASE - JOHN LANGILLE (.369,10.100) nearly won the batting title as a 23 year old rookie and brought much-needed stability to a position that has always haunted the Kings. He is presently ranked as the 10th best player in the sport and behind only Frank Vance of Detroit among third baseman. BUCK SARGENT (.205,3,10) and NICK WALLACE (.269,0,4) will battle in the spring to see who sticks as the backup. Sargent has some power potential (19 homers in 134 FABL games) so he will likely get the nod. LEFT FIELD - The one position where their might be a bit of competition for playing time. The Kings acquired veteran JOE PERRET (.322,14,88) from the New York Gothams over the winter with the idea he could platoon with incumbent ART SUMMERS (.282,8,84) and provide insurance if rightfielder Doug Lightbody had any injury troubles. It will be a platoon unless one of the two establishes himself as a clear starter. CENTER FIELD - 22 year old BILL MAY (.264,4,39) was called up midway through the season and struggled early but looked very good down the stretch. He is one of the best defensive centerfielders in the game and as long as his progress at the plate continues May will be a perfect lead-off man. He was acquired from Montreal along with John Langille in the 1933 deal that sent Milt Fritz to the Saints. Veteran JIM GENTRY (.308,2,46) is a more than capable backup RIGHT FIELD - 31 year old DOUG LIGHTBODY (.371,7,85) won his second CA batting title last year and was finally healthy again after two injury plagued seasons. He is the face of the franchise and one of the best hitters in the game when healthy, but he has missed a lot of time over the years with various ailments. Defense has been a concern but he was actually not too bad last year. 30 year old AB THOMAS (.306,1,43) is terrific with the glove and a natural center fielder but he can spell Lightbody when needed, as can the newcomer Perret. PITCHING ROTATION - The plan is to go with a 4 and a half man rotation with Allen Award winner TOM BARRELL (29-3, 2.96) and MIKE MURPHY (21-7, 2.84) each going every fourth day. Veteran KEN CARPENTER (19-8, 3.64) is 36 years old now and has 204 career big league wins under his belt but he will get an extra day rest here and there instead of going every 4th day. Filling out the rest of the rotation will be veterans JOE SHAFFNER (17-14, 3.29) and MAX WILDER (9-10, 4.46), each was acquired in mid-season deals a year ago. If anyone falters prospect ART WHITE (7-9, 4.24) at Rochester may be ready to step in or the Kings will look to add a veteran arm if needed. BULLPEN - 29 year old DEL LYONS (5-3, 2.54) made the all-star team a year ago and will once again share the work in the bullpen with HAL GALVAN (11-8, 2.93), who is still going strong at age 42. Art White will likely end up here as well along with one of several decent arms from Rochester a year ago such as ART BLAKE (11-3, 2.62 in AAA), GEORGE DEFOREST (3-6, 4.43 in Brooklyn) or FRANK PARSONS (7-2, 2.89 in AAA). This club really is the strongest I have ever had but it still wasn't one win shy of what we needed a year ago. I don't plan on making a major move but am certainly prepared to sacrifice draft picks or youth to get something we need. With the ages of our key stars we likely have a several year window for title runs with the core group but the Kings are all-in on winning the Series this year. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

01-31-2021, 05:00 PM	#226
TC Dale Global Moderator Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 4,983	You know what sucks? Not being able to read this greatness, and not click the thanks button to let you know how much I enjoy it! I miss the button, but, I dont like to miss any of your ongoing series! __________________ ----------------------------------

01-31-2021, 08:54 PM	#228
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	This is taken from the Figment Sporting Journal's Bio of the day but because it focuses on Brooklyn owner Daniel Prescott I feel I should cross-post it here. This bio of Prescott was inspired in a big way by the great job DD Martin is doing developing the personality of his Cleveland Foresters owner. MEET BROOKLYN KINGS OWNER DANIEL PRESCOTT Daniel Prescott, owner of a successful bottling and canning business, assumed ownership of the Brooklyn Kings baseball club in 1929 after it was sold off by the Presley family following the death of patriarch Malcolm Presley. Malcom or his brother Reginald Presley had been the owners of the Kings ballclub since 1898. Daniel Karl Prescott was the third of four children born to bottling and brewery owner Wilfred Prescott and his wife Marta Krueger Prescott. His older brother Frederick would succeed their father as the president of Prescott Bottling and Brewery upon the senior Prescott's passing in 1918 just as Wilfred had followed his own father in heading the family business which had been formed in the 1850s. Daniel's maternal grandfather Wilhelm Krueger had been the chief brewmeister for the business and that is what brought his parents together and eventually Daniel's younger brother Elmer would become a world class brewmeister himself. The fourth child was a sister named Anna, who was 2 years younger than Frederick and just over a year older than Daniel and 4 years Elmer's senior. Daniel had a great mind for business but his true love was athletics. It did not matter the sport, if it was competition Daniel wanted to participate. While not blessed with great natural talent, Daniel was not lacking for enthusiasm on the sporting field, so much so that rather than follow his brother and attend prestigious Henry Hudson University, Prescott pleaded with his father to allow Daniel to study at All Hallows, a smaller school in New Rochelle, for the primary reason that he would have a much better opportunity to play varsity sports for the Saints then he would for a powerful team like Henry Hudson University. His father finally relented allowing Daniel to enroll at All Hallows in the fall of 1899. Daniel would make school baseball team as a reserve outfielder. He would later describe himself "as a weak hitting, poor fielding player with a lack of speed" and the few that might have observed All Hallows play a game would certainly not dispute that assessment. Prescott was on the squad for three seasons but played in just a handful of games. Although it was not an official sport at the time, Prescott did have a little more success on the hardwood and participated in several exhibition games for the Saints Basket Ball, as it was known then, team. When his college days came to a conclusion and with a degree in business, Prescott set out to make his mark in the family industry. While Reginald was focusing on the brewery side of the business, Daniel saw a great opportunity in the bottling end of the operation and was very successful expanding it to supply bottles and cans for many different beverage and food manufacturers in and around New York City. Daniel also never lost his passion for sports and his first foray into professional ownership was with the Brooklyn Prescott Brewers, a what would generously be called 'Semi-Professional" basketball team in the Atlantic League, a short-lived collection of basketball teams comprised mostly of former college players from the area, that existed between 1911 and 1924. Prescott even suited up for a couple of games himself in the first few years, filling in whenever the team was short on players. When prohibition hit, Daniel's foresight to develop the bottling side of the industry would prove to be pivotal to the survival of the family business and it actually prospered at a time that many other manufacturers of beer and spirits were forced to shunt operations or face bankruptcy. It was during the Prohibition years that Daniel, with backing secured from his bottling wing of Prescott Breweries, that he purchased the Brooklyn Kings. While no financial details of the transaction were officially released, many insiders claim Prescott negotiated himself an incredible bargain on the purchase price as the Presley Trust was eager to unload the club after Malcolm Presley's death and the lack of business acumen displayed by his successor and nephew Eugene Weston. Around the same time Prescott assumed control of the Kings he and his bottling company were perfecting designs on a pressurized tin can with a special coating that would prevent fizzy beer from chemically reacting with the tin container. It would be an invention that by the mid 1930s made Prescott a fortune. The purchase of cans, unlike bottles, did not require the consumer to pay a deposit. Cans were also easier to stack, more durable and took less time to chill. Prescott Brewery would be his first customer but by the end of 1935 he had produced and delivered well over a million cans as nearly every major brewery in the Northeast became a customer. The popularity of cans, and the patent that Prescott held, would greatly dwarf the profits of the brewery side of the business and would make the renamed Prescott Kings Canning Company worth a fortune. Note - The tin beer can actually debuted in late January, 1935 which is right about where we are in Figment Baseball history at this point so I thought it would be a perfect tie-in for Kings owner Prescott, who had previously been described as running a family brewery and bottling business. The beer can producing wing of his operation now also clears the way much easier for Prescott to move the team out of Brooklyn sometime in the 1950's if that has to happen. Had he strictly been a regional brewery owner I find it would be unthinkable for Prescott to take the Kings from Brooklyn as it would likely do irreparable harm to the family business. That is not to say the Kings will move. Nothing is written in stone in Figment but it is likely at least one of the 3 New York/Brooklyn teams will relocate at some point in time. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-01-2021, 02:33 PM	#229
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	March 25, 1935 March 25, 1935 OPENING WEEK OF SPRING TRAINING The Kings got the spring training games under way with an 8-5 win over Montreal in the opener. The bats were going right away and it was nice to see veteran Doug Lightbody get things started with a 2-run homer on the second pitch he saw from enemy hurlers this spring. Not much to take from this game or the rest of the week as the focus was on getting the kinks out and giving everyone some at bats. We went 4-2 and scored 33 runs in the 6 games so the signs look encouraging that our offense will be just as powerful this year as it was a season ago. Some highlights: Tom Blalock started the opener vs the Saints and pitched well enough to get another start. The 26 year old former Chicago Poly ace tied with Tom Barrell for second team All-American honours in 1928 and was a former 4th overall draft pick but has yet to pitch above AA. I was extremely high on him his draft year but things have not worked out for Blalock. We picked him up from St Louis for a late round draft pick over the winter with plans of assigning him to AAA Rochester in hopes he might be a late bloomer who could give us some useful innings in Brooklyn at some point in his career. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits while fanning 3 and walking 3 in his 4 innings of work. The Barrell clan is all clicking early. Tom got the start yesterday and followed up his Allan Award winning season a year ago with 4 innings of shutout ball in an 8-4 win over Toronto. Shortstop Harry went 7-for-16 with a pair of doubles in the opening week while first baseman Dan and catcher Fred each hit an identical .545 (6-for-11) Ken Carpenter worked 5 innings this week and did not allow a hit but did walk 3 batters. Larry Brown and Chuck Murphy, both battling to catch on as the final piece in the bullpen each had strong starts but we received bad news when Art Blake took himself out of the race to make the team but suffering an arm injury that will sideline him until early May. Jose Serna had a statement week as the former Rule V pickup looks to stick in Brooklyn for a second year rather than go down to Rochester for some much needed playing time. The 22 year old center fielder had 5 hits in 12 at bats including a triple and a homer. Our outfield situation is very crowded with 7 candidates likely belonging in Brooklyn but our plan is to only keep six. In addition to Serna, who appears to be the odd-man out, we have Doug Lightbody, Art Summers, Jim Gentry, Ab Thomas, Bill May and newcomer Joe Perrot. For the week ahead I have not made too many changes. We did add veteran reliever Bert Henggler to camp. He was a waiver wire signing after Cleveland exposed him. The 33 year old is a fan favourite due to his outstanding work ethic and always enjoying spending time talking with kids in the stands. He was 6-6 with a 4.97 era out of the Foresters pen a year ago and, while he has a chance to break camp with us it likely will depend more on how comfortable we feel with one of our younger guys like Art White, Chuck Murphy, Larry Brown or George DeForest than on what Henggler does over the next 3 weeks. He is also an insurance policy in case 42 year old Hal Galvan (11-8, 18 saves last year) has lost anything. We also optioned veteran minor league shortstop Jud Hall and pitcher Gene Jones to AAA Rochester cutting our camp roster down to 33. The plan is one more week of looking a little closer at our AAA guys before we start to give the regulars the bulk of the playing time over the final two weeks of camp. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-02-2021, 12:44 PM	#230
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	1935 Spring training week two APRIL 1, 1935 - KINGS SPRING TRAINING WEEK TWO I was hoping it was an April fools joke when I got word Art White will miss the next two months, but unfortunately it was not. Time and time again our decent young pitching prospects go down with an injury. We are still without Johnny Jacob who was a top ten prospect that we lost a year ago when he blew out his arm at age 25. Jacob still has hopes of coming back but a setback this winter means he won't pitch again until at least spring training next year. There have been plenty of others as well with White, presently our #3 prospect and 39th overall, the latest. The 1932 third round pick out of George Fox University had the inside track on the final spot in our bullpen until he went down in a game with Cleveland last week. He had pitched 5 scoreless innings of 3-hit ball in the contest before the injury. The good news, if there is any, is it was his hamstring and not his arm but he will be sidelined until late May. His injury comes a week after we lost 1927 second round pick Art Blake until early May with a muscle strain. The injury bug continued to bite the Kings last week as backup third baseman and key pinch-hitter Buck Sargent also suffered a muscle strain and will likely not be available until May. The Sargent injury does buy us some time to decide what to do with Nick Wallace, who like Sargent is 26 years old and out of options. Wallace would likely have been placed on waivers in an attempt to get him down to Rochester but, at least for now, the 1929 third round pick out of Wisconsin State will stick with the big club as a reserve corner infielder. Wallace has played 105 career games with the Kings and hit .290. He is 5-for-18 (.278) so far this spring. It was a rough week on the field for the Kings as well as we dropped 4 of 6 games to even our spring record at 6-6. The week started off on the wrong foot as Tom Blalock, the former college sensation at Chicago Poly and first round pick turned minor league journeyman, punched his ticket back to the minors with a dreadful outing last Monday vs the Chicago Cougars. Blalock only retired two batters while allowing 9 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks in a game we would lose 16-2. Bert Henggler, the waiver wire pickup from Cleveland, had rough debut in a Kings uniform in the same game as he was roughed up for 7 runs on 9 hits in two and 2/3 innings. We will chock it up to jitters as Henggler looked much more composed in his next outing, tossing a pair of scoreless innings in a win over the Philadelphia Sailors. This week I will get much more serious about our rotation as each of the expected rotation guys will get a start with Tom Barrell (1-0, 2.25), Ken Carpenter (2-0, 1.00), Mike Murphy (0-0, 3.52), Joe Shaffner (0-1, 3.00) and Max Wilder (1-0, 4.50) each getting a start this week. Those 5 will be joined by Del Lyons, Hal Galvan and recent waiver pickup Henggler on the final roster. The question now is do I just bring 8 pitchers north or will one of Larry Brown (0-1, 6.48), Chuck Murphy (0-0, 4.50) or George DeForest (0-1, 6.48) show enough in the final two weeks to earn a spot. My expectation is I will start the season with an 8 man staff so each of those three will likely head to AAA Rochester. The bats continue to heat up in the Florida sunshine. All four of my starting infielders are hitting over .400 in spring action led by Harry Barrell (16-for-33), who leads all players in spring hits. Dan Barrell (.476), Jake Shadoan (.429) and John Langille (.409) are the others. Those 4 along with catcher Fred Barrell (.308), centerfiedler Bill May (.318) and right fielder Doug Lightbody (.250) are assured starting roles when opening day hits. I do have a battle shaping up in left field as young Jose Serna continues to make his case. The 22 year old, who was in Brooklyn all of last season as a rule V pickup but played sparingly, is hitting .346 in the spring and the natural centerfielder would give us outstanding defense should he hit enough to wrestle the starting job from Art Summers and Joe Perret, who I had planned on platooning. However Summers is in the midst of a 2-for-17 spring slump and Perret is not doing much better at 3-for-18 (.167). It is only March so I am not making any rash changes yet but the thought of an outfield with both May and Serna in it is very appealing to our pitching staff. PROJECTED 23-MAN ROSTER Here is where things stand right now. 8 or 9 Pitchers: Tom Barrell, Mike Murphy, Ken Carpenter and Joe Shaffner in the rotation with Max Wilder as the swing man and the combo of Del Lyons, Hal Galvan and Bert Henggler handling the relief duties. My expectation is the 3 pitchers in camp (George DeForest, Larry Brown and Chuck Murphy) all get sent to Rochester. 2 Catchers: Fred Barrell with Bill Smith again returning as his backup. The third catcher in camp is minor league veteran Joe Clark and he will go back to Rochester. 6 Infielders: The starters are clearly set. Dan Barrell will play first base and I can spell him with either second baseman Jake Shadoan or outfielder Doug Lightbody. Shadoan is my second baseman - a terrific hitter who's defense seems to be improving. Shortstop Harry Barrell is 21 and already likely the best at his position in the league and third baseman John Langille looks to duplicate an outstanding rookie campaign. Nick Wallace will come north as the backup third baseman now that Buck Sargent is on the DL. That leaves a pair of middle infielders who are both gifted with the glove at either second base or shortstop to fight it out for the final job. Walt Layton has spent the past 5 years with the Kings but has played sparingly since Harry Barrell arrived. Not the best hitter- he is slashing .239/.309/.324 for his 405 game career but his work with the glove is nearly as impressive as Harry's. Rabbit Mudd is a former first round pick who has been up and down between Brooklyn and Rochester. His bat is slightly better than Layton's, slashing .261/.311/.376 in 272 games with the Kings, but his defense, while still very good, is a notch below Layton. Both have option years left so there is no issue demoting either to Rochester. 6 or 7 Outfielders: Bill May will get the job in centerfield and Doug Lightbody owns right. Art Summers, Joe Perret and Jose Serna are battling for left field with Ab Thomas and Jim Gentry in the mix as well. The original plan was to give Serna a couple of months playing every day in Rochester but he may force me to carry 7 outfielders. The other two guys still in camp are Jimmy Schlosser and Elmer Nolde. I like both of them but won't have room. Nolde, a 1929 second rounder, still has an option left so he will go to Rochester. Schlosser is 27, has been in the system since being selected in the 6th round of the 1929 draft out of Central Ohio University. He has only made the big club for 16 games and spent most of last season in AA Knoxville, where he hit .393. I will have to designate him for assignment and remove him from the 40-man so there is a chance he will be lost as a waiver pickup but there is no room for him with the Kings. So very little needs to be decided the next two weeks. They key is to have everyone stay healthy and the bats continue to hum in preparation for our season opener two weeks from tomorrow on the road against the New York Stars. ROSTER MOVES THIS WEEK Demoted Pitcher Tom Blalock to AAA Rochester Place P Art White on the 60-day DL and 3B Buck Sargent on the 15-day DL. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-03-2021, 01:17 PM	#231
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	1935 Spring Training - Week 3 APRIL 8, 1935 FINAL ROSTER CLOSE TO COMPLETION AS CAMP NEARS END Just two spots remain up for grabs as the Brooklyn Kings head into the final few tune-up contests before opening the 1935 season a week fromTuesday on the road against the New York Stars. It is a season filled with very high expectations for the team that came within a game of winning the franchise's 4th Continental Association pennant last year. Here are the 20 players assured of heading north with the Kings for next week's season opener and there stats from last season. There are several candidates bidding to join that group in Brooklyn rather than be farmed out to AAA Rochester. Here is some info on each of them and what their likely destination will be: One of the remaining three spots will go to a back up middle infielder. WALT LAYTON- 2B/SS - A 16th round pick out of high school in 1926, the 26 year old has spent the past five seasons in Brooklyn, primarily as a backup middle infielder. He has a .239 career batting average but is an outstanding defensive shortstop and often subs in for second baseman Jake Shadoan to preserve a late lead. He has hit .255 in camp this spring and seems assured of making the team ahead of Rabbit Mudd. RABBIT MUDD- 2B/SS- Like Layton, Mudd is 26 but he was a first round draft pick (15th overall) out of high school in 1927. He has split each of the past four seasons between Brooklyn and Rochester and seems destined to do that again this year as he is likely going to lose the back-up middle infield spot to Layton thanks in part to a rough spring at the plate that saw Mudd hit just .174. His career FABL batting average is slighly higher than Layton at .261 but his defense, while still very good, is considered a shade below Layton as well. Another spot seems to be spoken for a reserve third baseman NICK WALLACE- 3B- Another 26 year old, Wallace was taken in the third round of the 1929 draft out of Wisconsin State. He played 71 games in Brooklyn in 1931 and hit .297 but other than that most of his recent time has been spent in Rochester although he did appear in 32 games last season when John Langille was hurt. Out of options, Wallace would likely have been placed on waivers had Buck Sargent not been injured and is sidelined until May. That is still the likely outcome for Wallace but he will have a couple of weeks as Langille's backup to prove why he deserves to stay in Brooklyn ahead of Sargent. He has hit .258 this spring. That leaves one remaining spot on the opening day roster and a number of bodies battling for it. The Kings have not yet decided if they want to keep a 9th pitcher or an extra outfielder to add some flexibility pinch-hitting off the bench. The choices are between pitchers Larry Brown, George DeForest and Mike Murphy and outfielders Jose Serna and Elmer Nolde. Jimmy Schlosser, another outfielder in camp, is out of options but will be exposed on waivers and if he passes through will go to Rochester as will #3 catcher Joe Clark, who still has a couple of option years left. Here are the thoughts on those fighting for the final roster spot. JOSE SERNA - Originally from the Dominican Republic, Serna holds the distinction of being one of the few players nowadays who did not come through the draft. He signed a minor league contract with the Houston Bulls of the independent Lone Star League in 1929 when he was still just 17 years old. Later he would have his contract acquired by the Chicago Cougars but was dealt to Detroit in exchange for outfielder Doc Love last December. The Dynamos left him exposed in the Rule V draft which is how the Kings acquired the much travelled outfielder last winter. He did not play much for Brooklyn but slashed .295/.338/.439 in 47 games and played outstanding defense. The question the Kings have is do they let him play everyday for a season in Rochester or keep him in Brooklyn as a pinch-hitter/defensive replacement. Rochester seemed the likely plan but that was before Serna hit .316 in the spring while the two left field candidates, Art Summers and Joe Perret, both struggled. ELMER NOLDE- The 27 year old former second round pick out of Coastal California University seemed destined to return to Rochester, where he has spent most of the past few seasons. That was until he hit .355 with a pair of homers in 31 spring at bats. A classic 4A player, Nolde has hit just .246 but did swat 11 homers in 155 career games in Brooklyn while hitting .350 with 24 homers in 125 games at the AAA level. He does have an option year left which might hurt him in his bid to stay in Brooklyn this year. CHUCK MURPHY - The Kings really did not plan on taking 9 pitchers north but the three guys battling for that potential spot all have looked very good. Murphy is a 25 year old who was acquired from Montreal along with Bill May and John Langille in the trade that sent pitching star Milt Fritz north of the border. A 1930 first round pick (12th overall) out of Ellery College, Murphy went 3-5 with a 5.49 era in a brief spell in Brooklyn last summer. He has a 2.12 era in 17 spring innings with a 189 ERA+ and is out of option years so it appears the Kings are leaning towards keeping him. However, that option was complicated by the arrival of veteran waiver wire pick Bert Henggler to fill out the pitching staff. LARRY BROWN - Like Murphy, Brown is out of option years so the Kings have some tough decisions to make. The 26 year old Brown was acquired from Detroit in a 1929 trade after being selected 4th overall out Oakland High School by the Dynamos three years earlier. Brown has had very little opportunity in Brooklyn but has been solid in Rochester. He will likely be exposed on the waiver wire if he is not traded. GEORGE DEFOREST - With an option year left DeForest is almost assured of starting the year in Rochester. The 26 year old was acquired from the Chicago Cougars along with Tom and Fred Barrell and Mike Murphy in the trade that sent Tommy Wilcox and Mike Taylor to the Windy City. Originally a 1927 6th round pick out of San Antonio High School, DeForest threw a no-hitter in the minors and was consistently ranked in the top 80 prospects. He had 4 very good outings this spring but also one bad one. He was 3-6 for the Kings in 10 starts in Brooklyn a year ago while going 10-5, 3.57 in Rochester. OUTLOOK - The likely scenario is Murphy makes the team because of his option concerns but there is also a slight change the Kings take Nolde north as well as Murphy if they decide to part ways with veteran reliever Bert Henggler. EDIT - BREAKING NEWS The Kings have moved Larry Brown, dealing the young pitcher to the Chicago Chiefs in exchange for a 6th round draft pick. We hate to lose Brown but it was a numbers game and he was the odd-man out but hopefully gets a chance with the Chiefs. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-04-2021, 12:33 PM	#232
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	April 15, 1935 APRIL 15, 1935 ROSTER CUT DOWN DAY A strong finish to spring training as the Kings go 4-1 to end the Grapefruit Season with the best record in the Continental Association at 15-9, 1 game up on defending World Champion Cleveland. 21 year old shortstop Harry Barrell led all CA qualifying hitters with a .419 spring average while Chuck Murphy cemented himself a spot on the opening day roster with a 1.71 era in 21 spring innings. Other Kings hurlers who had a strong spring include Allan Award winnerTom Barrell (1-0, 1.50), Ken Carpenter (4-0, 2.12) and Mike Murphy (2-0, 2.29). Among the position players John Langille hit .420 with 3 homers, Jake Shadoan .390 and backup catcher Bill Smith batted .481. The Kings final order of business before we open the season is to get the roster down to 23 players. We entered the final week with 29 players in the main camp after dealing pitcher Larry Brown, who was out of options, to the Chicago Cougars for a 6th round draft pick. It would have been nice to get more for Brown, who I think still has some upside but we likely would have lost the 26 year old for nothing this week when he had to pass through waivers. Speaking of waivers we did put a successful claim in on former King second baseman Bill Scott, who had been waived by Cleveland. Scott, who has some power and is very strong with the glove, hit 33 homers for us in 1930 - that total was 4 shy of former catcher and current Tampa Cigar Kings hitting coach Paul Tattersall's 1921 club record. Scott's issue has always been making contact as he hit just .226 with 162 strikeouts in 260 games with the Kings from 1930-32. We lost him on a waiver claim to Cleveland last fall after he spent the season with the Union League champion Rochester Rooks, our AAA club. Scott does not factor in the big club's plans but our hope is he clears waivers for us and we can put him back in Rochester where his experience can help some of our prospects. Getting from 29 down to within one of the 23 man limit was fairly easy as we designated outfielder Jimmy Schlosser for assignment and put him through waivers since the 27 year old former 6th round pick was out of options. I am fairly confident Schlosser will clear but not sure there will be room for him in Rochester so he may go back to AA Knoxville, for whom he hit .393 in 112 games and finished second in the Dixie League batting race. Other moves saw 3rd catcher Joe Clark and reserve infielder Rabbit Mudd get demoted to the minor league camp as did promising young outfielder Jose Serna and pitcher George DeForest. Both Serna and DeForest played well and each deserves to be in Brooklyn but we have the luxury of being a very deep team this year so both will have to play in Rochester at least to start the season. THE FINAL CUT This one was a very tough decision. In the end Chuck Murphy forced me to carry a 9th pitcher even though I would have preferred to go with 8 at least for April. Murphy is out of options and while some trades were discussed, including a potential deal that would have sent him to a Federal Association club along with a third round pick in exchange for that team's first round selection, but it and the other discussions ultimately fell apart. I think it worked out for the best as my Scouting Director John Spears is very bullish on the 26 year old and Murphy restated his case for belonging in Brooklyn with a terrific final outing of the spring season, tossing 4 scoreless innings of 1-hit ball in a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cougars. Overall, his 1.71 spring era was third lowest among qualifiers in the CA. That meant I had to send Serna and also 27 year old outfielder Elmer Nolde to the minors. I really wanted to keep Nolde after what he has done this spring. The 27 year old former second round draft pick hit .400 with a pair of homers in 35 spring at bats and would have been ideal as the first option for a lefthanded pinch-hitter but unfortunately there is no room for him so he will return to Rochester, using his final option year. As expected he was very upset upon receiving the news after hitting .350 with 24 homers over 125 games at AAA the past three seasons. I explained he will be our first option for recall and like each of the past three seasons he can expect to see some time in Brooklyn. I was really torn on Nolde and came very close to exposing newly acquired reliever Bert Henggler to waivers. The 33 year old we picked up from Cleveland on the waiver wire at the start of camp did not have an impressive spring, posting a 6.38 era and a .456 FIP in 6 relief appearances, only two of which did not result in him giving up runs and he blew two saves. To be honest had I been more comfortable about 42 year old Hal Galvan I would have cut Henggler and kept Nolde. However, Galvan had a brutal final outing against Cleveland and blew his second save of the spring (both against the Foresters). I am worried about his age and the fact he has lost a little off his fastball over the winter. Galvan had 18 saves a year ago and won 11 games in 54 relief appearances but he is the player I am most concerned about not duplicating his 1934 season. So I figure I will give it a week or two with 9 arms and if Galvan looks good and Chuck Murphy proves he can do the job out of the pen then Henggler will be on his way out of town. So the big league roster is all set. Now my attention turns to setting up the minor leagues. Here are the 23 members of the Brooklyn Kings 1935 Opening Day roster. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-09-2021, 03:12 PM	#233
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	April 29, 1935 APRIL 1935 - KINGS START SEASON 8-5 What a difference a year can make on your expectations. At this time last season I was just hoping the Kings could get off to a decent start after 1932 and 1933 saw the team suffer through a brutal first half of each season. Last year was much different and the Kings were contenders all season before finally conceeding the pennant to the Cleveland Foresters on the final day of the regular season. Fast forward to today and as the end of April fast approaches the Kings sport an 8-5 record and are in third place, two games back of the surprising Montreal Saints. Normally I would feel pretty good about that record but the fact that we dropped four of sven games to rebuilding Baltimore is a cause for worry. I feel we missed an opportunity to take even more advantage of the terrible start that Cleveland (3-9) has gotten off to and can't help but feel this early losses to Baltimore could be the difference in whether we play October baseball or not. In addition, our big three of Tom Barrell (1-1, 4.97), Ken Carpenter (2-2, 4.50) and Mike Murphy (1-1, 6.30) have been less than impressive on the mound. I am hopeful each will come around soon and #4 starter Joe Shaffner (2-0, 0.56) has been a very pleasant surprise. Our offense is doing it's job, especially shortstop Harry Barrell (.396,0,3), who was player of the week to start the season, and veteran outfielder Doug Lightbody (.320,0,13). The big position of concern is left field were the platoon of Art Summers (.183,1,3) and Joe Perret (.250,0,0) have both struggled. It is too early to panic but another quality veteran outfield bat may be on my shopping list soon. WEEK ONE We opened the season with 7 road games in six days starting with 3 vs the New York Stars. We took two wins in the series including a 6-5 comeback win on opening day when pinch-hitter Nick Wallace hit a 2-run single in the top of the ninth. Harry Barrell had a 4-for-4 day while big brother Tom got the win despite not having his best stuff on the mound. Ken Carpenter had a terrible outing the next night as the 36 year old who won 19 games last season, was awful in a 9-2 defeat. We took the series with an 8-5 win in the finale as Mike Murphy, a 20 game winner a year ago, won his debut with Doug Lightbody delivering a pair of hits and 3 rbi's. On to Baltimore for a doubleheader to open the four game set with the Cannons. Joe Shaffner allowed 2 runs over 7 innings in a 6-4 win in the opener with Lightbody adding 3 more hits and Harry and Fred Barrell two apiece. Tom Barrell went in the night cap and didn't pitch badly, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits but we couldn't generate enough offense of our own and fell 4-3. Saturday was a slugfest that we won 10-7 with Carpenter again struggling, but he did pickup the W. Lightbody and young centerfielder Bill May had 3 hits each while second year 3B John Langille had 2 hits and drove in 3 runs. On Sunday, Baltimore rookie Dale Dube tossed a gem, 7 innings of 1 hit ball as we fall 5-0 with Mike Murphy taking the loss. WEEK TWO After a 4-3 start we came home to Kings County ballpark and started a 4-game winning streak. In the home opener we beat New York 9-8 in 11 innings as Art Summers showed signs of breaking out of his early season funk with 3 hits including a 2-run walk-off homer. The bats kept going the rest of the series with wins over the Stars by scores of 7-2 and 13-10 before we continued the winning streak in the opener of a 3-game set with Baltimore. Joe Shaffner went the distance, allowing just 1 run on 7 hits in a 5-1 win over the Cannons. However the week ended on a couple of sour notes. Saturday Baltimore rallied to beat us 3-2 as Del Lyons failed to preserve a win for Tom Barrell, despite Barrell's best outing of the season so far while on Sunday Ken Carpenter had another bad game against his former team and we fell 8-5. LOOKING AHEAD Next up our long 22 game homestand continues as we get to see if Montreal is for real. The Saints, under new management this season, are off to a great start and lead the CA despite most experts feeling they are a .500 team at best. We end the week with 3 against the Philadelphia Sailors (8-4), who are a half game ahead of us. MINORS Some of our recent draft picks are shining in Class C Marshalltown. First rounder Dan Rogers (.417,1,6) was named Upper Mississippi Valley Association player of the week while 3rd rounder Bob Mullins (.381,1,3), an outfielder like Rogers, is also off to a strong start. Our other third round pick, 22 year old lefthander Jack Wood, had a very strong debut on the mound for the Maples as did 19 year old fourth rounder Gus Parker. Brooklyn claimed former Chicago Cougars first baseman Phil Vaughan on waivers and assigned him to AAA Rochester. The 30 year old has some power, he hit 20 homers in 117 games for AAA Milwaukee a year ago and was added to provide organizational depth. A 1926 ninth round pick out of Wisconsin State, Vaughan appeared in 255 FABL games with the Cougars, hitting .255 with 12 homers. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-10-2021, 12:54 PM	#234
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	May 6, 1935 MAY 6, 1935 ANOTHER FOUR FOR BROOKLYN I guess if we can win 4 games every week we will be just fine. For the third week in a row the Brooklyn Kings won 4 games to improve our season record to 12-7. The Kings started the week by cooling off the previously red-hot Montreal Saints. The Saints arrived at Kings County Park to open the 3 game series on Tuesday with the best record in either league at 10-3 but limped out of Brooklyn with 3 straight losses while being outscored 24-10. Only the opener of the set was a rout as the Kings bats rapped out 16 hits including 3 each from John Langille, Doug Lightbody and Joe Perret, in a 12-0 whitewashing. Lost in all the offensive noise was Tom Barrell quietly had his best outing of the season, a complete game 3-hit shutout that will hopefully put him back on track after a slow start. The other two games of the Montreal series were much tighter. The Kings took each by a single run starting with a dramatic walk-off win that rewarded the 10,447 fans who suffered through a rainy afternoon that included a 24 minute delay due to the weather in the 8th inning. Jake Shadoan was the walkoff hero, delivering an rbi single in the bottom of the ninth to plate Dan Barrell, who started the inning with a lead-off double. Barrell and Shadoan each had 3 hits in the win. Starting pitcher Joe Shaffner was not especially sharp after two terrific outings to start the season but he did enough to keep us close with Hal Galvan, who won 11 games out of the pen a year ago, getting his first victory of the season. We closed out the series with Mike Murphy tossing his best game of the young season, going the distance in a 4-3 win. Next up was a showdown with the Philadelphia Sailors, fresh off a 3-game sweep of the Chicago Cougars and winners of 7 of their previous 8 games entering the series. The Kings dropped the opener 8-2 as starting pitcher Ken Carpenter continues to be in a funk after a very strong spring training. The 36 year old, who was 19-8 a yar ago and entered the season with 204 career FABL wins - second most of any active FABL hurler- but is 2-3 with a 5.65 era in 5 starts for the Kings this season. We rebounded with a 17-3 win in the middle game of the series as Doug Lightbody had 4 hits, including a homer, drove in 4 runs and scored 4 while Jake Shadoan also had 4 hits and 4 rbi's but was a bit of a slacker compared to Lightbody by only scoring 3 times. Tom Barrell surrendered 9 hits in going the distance but with a 10-0 lead after two innings perhaps his focus was not fully dialed in. I just wish we saved some of our 21 hits for Sunday as we lost the finale 3-1 despite Joe Shaffner tossing a fairly solid game. Next up we continue our homestand with 3 games against Toronto, who have been surprisingly good to start the season and then the dates that have been circled on our calendar for quite some time as we have a 4 game weekend series with the team that nosed us out for the pennant a year ago when the World Champion Cleveland Foresters come to town. It is an unusual time for Cleveland as their GM just bolted to Detroit and the team started the season 4-10 before winning their last 4 games. ROSTER MOVES With 3B Buck Sargent coming off the DL the Kings were faced with a roster crunch at third as Sargent as well as fellow 26 year old Nick Wallace were each out of options and I could only keep one to backup sophomore sensation John Langille. Wallace, was hitting .571 (4-for-7) as a pinch-hitter this season but we like Sargent's defense and power potential a little better so rather than risk losing Wallace on the waiver wire if we were to designate him for assignment, we shipped him to Toronto in exchange for a 4th round draft pick in December. Wallace played in 113 games for the Kings, batting .295 while providing pretty stable defense. To temporarily make room for Sargent and Wallace on the roster (as the trade is not processed until the end of the sim) we have sent Art Summers down to AAA in hopes it gets him untracked. Summers is a career .292 hitter with 59 homers in 661 games with the Kings but was hitting just .150 to start the season for us after struggling through a poor spring training. He had been sharing leftfield with off-season pickup Joe Perret (.321,0,3) but for this week anyway, Perret will be the everyday leftfielder. We are actively searching for another option in leftfield as well as perhaps a veteran starting pitcher. So far there have been preliminary discussions with several teams and while a couple of the talks seem promising, there is nothing to report as of yet. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-10-2021, 07:57 PM	#235
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	Biggest Deal in FABL history BREAKING NEWS - KINGS INVOLVED IN BIGGEST DEAL IN FABL HISTORY The new GM of the Detroit Dynamos got to work quickly and just hours after taking the job he agreed to a deal with the Brooklyn Kings that is the largest in league history. The Brooklyn Kings high powered offense received a huge jolt with the addition of sluggers Al Wheeler and Frank Vance from Detroit as the Dynamos embark on a full-scale rebuild. The Kings also add a veteran starting pitcher in Jack Beach but the price was very expensive as Brooklyn was forced to part with 8 draft picks and 5 prospects including 3 in the league's top 100. The full deal sees the Kings send their first thru 8th round picks in the December rookie draft as well as P Earle Robinson (33rd overall prospect) , SS Tip Harrison (55th overall prospect), LHP Jack Wood (76th overall prospect), CF Jose Serna (AAA)and LF Jay Buckingham (AA). The transaction, involving a toal of 16 players or picks, is the largest deal ever consumated in FABL. For Brooklyn the key pieces are Vance and Wheeler, considered to be the top two players on the Dynamos and two of the best players in Detroit history. The 32 year old Vance won the Whitney Award as Federal Association MVP in 1929 when he hit .372 and practically carried the Dynamos to a World Championship. He was also named WCS MVP that season. Selected in the second round of the 1921 draft out of Buffalo High School, Vance has played 952 games and has a .337 lifetime average in his 7 and a half seasons in Detroit. He is hitting .392 with 3 homers and 18 rbi's in 19 games this season. A natural third baseman, Vance is expected to move to first base with the Kings, relegating Dan Barrell to back-up and pinch-hitting duties. Wheeler is still just 27 years old but already ranks 11th all-time with 201 career homers despite batting lefthanded and playing in a park that is murder on leftys. The Kings have been eyeing Wheeler since Detroit selected him first overall in the 1925 draft out of Decatur High School. That was the same draft the Kings selected Doug Lightbody 6th overall and now the two will share an outfield in Brooklyn. Wheeler owns 2 Whitney Awards after being selected Federal Association MVP in both 1930 and 1932. He is a veteran of 1089 FABL games and boasts a .325 career batting average but has struggled this season, hitting just .243 with 2 homers and 11 rbi's through 19 games. Wheeler's acquisition will see him take over left field in Brooklyn, despite being a natural right fielder like Lightbody. Joe Perret will go to the bench and Art Summers, who was recently sent down to Rochester for a week, will now find himself in AAA for a longer spell. Jack Beach is a 33 year old righthander who attended Georgia Baptist, just as Fred and Tom Barrell did but he left the year before Fred arrived at the school, after being selected in the 4th round of the 1923 draft by the Dynamos. Beach did not make his FABL debut until 1929 at the age of 27 and is 80-58 for his big league career including a 20-win season in 1932 that saw him with the Fed's Allen Award. He has struggled in the early going this season at 1-2 with a 6.00 era in 4 starts but he is a groundball pitcher with four solid offerings. He will likely start his career in the Kings organization in AAA as Brooklyn determines what to do with Chuck Murphy, a promising pitcher who is out of minor league options but probably a little shy of making this veteran ladden staff. The plan is to give Beach a couple of starts in the minors and then determine if he goes to the rotation or the pen with the Kings. The cost was huge. Nevermind the 8 draft picks which presently leave Brooklyn without a selection until the fourth round. The Kings own Toronto's fourth round pick as well as the Chicago Chiefs 6th rounder and perhaps will be shopping a couple of players such as Chuck Murphy and third baseman Buck Sargent in an effort to grab some more selections in the rounds 3-5 range. The prospects that Brooklyn give up all look very promising. Let's start with the pitchers. Earle Robinson is just 19 years old and was selected 5th overall out Swoyersville High School in the 1933 draft. He had some back problems last season and was limited to just 5 starts in his rookie pro year but has moved up from the 37th rated prospect in April of 1934 to number 33 overall as of this writing. 22 year old lefthander Jack Wood was the Kings 3rd round pick out of Henry Hudson University last December. The New York City native is 1-1 in 3 pro starts at Class C Marshalltown. He is presently ranked 76th on the OSA top 100 prospect list. Brooklyn also parts with shortstop Tip Harrison. The 23 year old was a first round candidate in last December's mock draft but slipped to the Kings in the second round, 29th overall. Out of Bluegrass State, Harrison was adapting nicely to pro ball at Class B Tampa, where he was hitting .268 through 12 games for the Cigar Kings. Scouts rave about his defense and his speed. He is presently rated #55 on the top 100 prospect list. The final two pieces the Kings give up are a pair of recently acquired young outfielders. Centerfielder Jose Serna was orginally an independent free agent out of the Dominican Republic before signing with the Chicago Cougars organization. The Cougars dealt him to Detroit for Doc Love and the Dynamos inexplicably left him exposed in the Rule V draft last season so Brooklyn grabbed him. He hit .295 in 47 games as a King a year ago and nearly made the club after an impressive spring training this season. The 22 year old was instead sent to Rochester where he was hitting .340 for the Rooks through the first 12 games of the season and now he finds himself back with the Dynamos organization. The final piece to the deal was 24 year old corner outfielder Jay Buckingham, originally a 6th round pick out of Lynn High School by Toronto in 1929. He hit .415 with 7 homers in 100 games for Class B Vancouver a year ago, prompting the Kings to purchase his contract from the Wolves organization in the minor league phase of the rule V draft this past winter. Buckingham was hitting .389 through 8 games with Class AA Knoxville prior to the trade. KINGS ANALYSIS It is obviously a lot to give up but Brooklyn felt it could easily absorb the cost and that it was well worth it considering the offensive production Wheeler and Vance should bring to what was already the most productive offense in the Continental Association. Wheeler gives the Kings a power hitter they have not seen since former catcher Paul Tattersall, now a hitting coach in the Kings organization, who hit a career best 37 homers in 1921. Wheeler's career high is 38 but he stands a very good chance of surpassing that playing in the much more neutral Kings County Stadium as opposed to Thompson Field in Detroit where countless Wheeler fly balls died in the cavernous right field. Vance gives Brooklyn another player who could very easily win a batting title in the next year or two, joining the likes of Doug Lightbody (2 already), second year pro John Langille and 22 year old Harry Barrell. The only concern is how will the defense look. Vance is a natural third baseman but there is little chance the Kings move Langille from that spot so the only alternative is first base, which sends Dan Barrell to the bench as a pinch-hitter. Wheeler is a natural right fielder like Doug Lightbody but one of the two will have to shift to left field. It might cost the Kings a few runs but the offensive upside should hopefully far more than counter that. Brooklyn did want to get a quality bottom of the rotation arm in the trade but felt the closest Detroit had was Beach. He has had his ups and downs but has been very healthy and not had a losing record since 1930. He will be insurance if Ken Carpenter continues to struggle or could help round out the bullpen. As for the price the Kings paid, well 8 draft picks is a lot to give away but the Kings feel they can withstand the one year blip in the influx of rookies. Brooklyn has proven adept in adding depth pieces from other sources like the rule V drafts and don't be surprised if the Kings add a few more mid-round picks before the season is done. They do give up their first rounder of course, but the hope is it is 15th overall (the CA gets odd number picks this season) and the Kings had a plan to deal their entire draft away anyways. The original thinking was they would package all 10 of their human GM picks and a high end prospect or two (like the ones they dealt to Detroit) for the right to move up and select first overall in the draft. The endgame was to get Rufus Barrell II, nephew of the Kings quartet of Barrell's, but there was no guarantee the team picking first would take such a bounty for that pick so when the Detroit opportunity came up the Kings jumped at it with a similar offer they had planned for the first overall pick. The two young pitchers dealt may well both pan out and enjoy great careers but Brooklyn has been burned by injuries to top prospect pitchers before - such as Bill Dengler or more recently Johnny Jacob - so the Kings felt this move made sense especially considering Robinson had some back problems a year ago. The move also allowed the Kings to retain their final two top 100 pitching prospects - both college arms in Art White and Bill Cummings. Either of them may find their way to Brooklyn this season or potentially could be moved if the Kings feel they need another veteran arm. The hope is both settle into the rotation either this year (Art White) or next year (Bob Cummings) and give Brooklyn a terrific crop of arms to back up Tom Barrell, Mike Murphy and a still fairly young at age 30 Joe Sharrett. Shortstop Tip Harrison is going to be a really good one. The Kings are very high on their second round pick. However, Harry Barrell should have a hammerlock on the starting shortstop job for at least the next decade and moving Harrison to second or third does not seem an option with 27 year old Jake Shadoan and 24 year old John Langille having established themselves there. So Harrison was drafted with the express purpose of being a trade chip. Serna was a player the Kings could see in their outfield but with fellow 22 year old Bill May looking like their centerfielder of the future and promising 18 year old first round draft pick Dan Rogers off to a strong start at Class C Marshalltown there is not a lot of room for Serna in the outfield when you consider Wheeler is still just 27, Lightbody seems rejuvenated at age 31 and Ab Thomas and Jim Gentry still productive at ages 30 and 29 respectively. The Kings are also liking what they see out of 19 year old Bob Mullins, a third round pick last December and that is not even factoring in the presently struggling Art Summers, who is still just 28 and has hit .292 with some pop over 661 career FABL games. So all of the pieces were ones the Kings felt they could absorb the loss of. The core of the team is young enough that the window to contend should be open for a number of years but with Cleveland's management in a state of flux, the Cougars loaded with talent but enduring the absence of ace Tommy Wilcox for much of the season, Baltimore rebuilding, the Montreal Saints and Toronto Wolves adapting to new GMs and the New York Stars and Philadelphia Sailors appearing to perhaps be going though a rare down year this seems to be the Kings best chance at finally ending their World Championship Series drought. The Sailors still look strong and the Foresters are always to be feared but Brooklyn felt rather than trying to add another veteran ace pitcher, they would be better served by improving on an already dominant offense. If nothing else the Kings will be an exciting team to watch this summer but the goal is to become an exciting team to watch this October. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-11-2021, 02:40 PM	#236
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	May 13, 1935 MAY 13, 1935 THE PIECES ARE IN PLACE. WE BETTER WIN. My fan interest, which was already at 100 has taken another huge jump forward according to fan reaction to the big deal with Detroit. Al Wheeler, Frank Vance and Jack Beach - all former league MVP or Allan Award winners - have joined the organization without sacrificing a single player from our core big league group. I did give up a big chunk of the future but as I mentioned in the previous post I believe we can withstand that loss fairly well. I also made a couple of housecleaning moves today designed to help add draft capital. Chuck Murphy and Buck Sargent, both players I was quite fond of and would have loved to keep in the system, were each out of options and with the newcomers there was unfortunately no place for them on the Brooklyn roster. In a different situation I would like to think they would have been worth more but I did get a pair of fourth round draft picks back in exchange for moving them. Murphy, a 26 year old righthander who was 4-9 in 29 big league appearances over the past four seasons was moved to the Chicago Chiefs were he can be reunited with his former GM, who originally drafted Murphy when he was running the Montreal Saints organization. I think Murphy could be a very solid back of the rotation starter but there just wasn't room for him here in Brooklyn. Likewise, I was always a big Buck Sargent fan ever since I selected the 27 year old third baseman in the 3rd round of the 1926 draft. He is sound defensively and has had some pretty good homerun totals in the minors. Unfortunately events conspired against him ever getting a fair shake in Brooklyn, primarily he was caught in the numbers game as I had to keep other players over him in past years because they were out of options. Sargent hit .235 with 19 homers in 137 games for the Kings over 4 seasons but never got a chance to show what he could do as an everyday player. I am hopeful the Philadelphia Keystones, who sent me their fourth round pick in December for him, can give Sargent that opportunity. With those two deals and pair made earlier this season moving 2 other players who were out of options I am slowly regaining some draft picks after the big trade cost me my rounds 1 thru 8 selections. I now own three fourth rounders (Chiefs, Keystones and Toronto) as well as a 6th rounder (Chiefs) to go with my own 9th and 10th round picks. As for the newcomers Vance will play 1B for me sending Dan Barrell to the bench where he should get plenty of pinch-hitting opportunities. Vance had never played 1B before but the Detroit Dynamos used the final sim they had him to give him a taste and he should fit in fine, especially considering Barrell was awful in the field anyway. I am likely going to start Wheeler in left field and keep Doug Lightbody in right. Wheeler does have a better arm I believe so right might be best for him but he did very well in a small sample of games in left with Detroit last week and I am hesitant to do anything to disrupt Lightbody, who has been hitting great and playing nearly acceptable defense. That might change but for now I will go with Wheeler in left. As for the pitcher I picked up, well Jack Beach will need to spend a week in Rochester as we have to wait for Chuck Murphy to depart at the end of the sim. The same news awaited outfielder Jim Gentry and he was not impressed but someone had to go to Rochester for a week until Sargent is moved off our active roster so Gentry gets an all-expense paid trip to Rochester for the week. The newcomers will debut in tonight's sim. Here is what the batting order will look like. That leaves the righthanded Dan Barrell (.300,2,20),Joe Perret (.306,2,8) and Bill Smith (.333,0,5) as well as lefthanded bat Ab Thomas (.348,0,3) to pinch-hit with switch hitter Gentry (.250,0,5) coming back next week. In our final week pre-Wheeler and Vance the Kings went 5-2 and have taken over top spot in the Continental Association. We started poorly by dropping 2 of three to a surprisingly improved Toronto Wolves team before the showdown we had been waiting for - a series with Cleveland arrived. The Foresters beat us by a game for the pennant a year ago but the Kings were on a mission this weekend, sweeping the 4 game set and outscoring the mighty Foresters 30-14 in the process - and that was before the arrival of Wheeler and Vance. There is plenty of excitement in Brooklyn surrounding the club with fans feeling this could finally be the year we end the World Championship Series drought and the curse of Ferdinand Hawkins. There is a lot of work to be done before that can even be considered as Philadelphia looks strong and even with their slow start you can never count the Foresters out. But this feels like the dawn of a new era in Kings baseball. The pieces are there. Now they need to come together so we can rule the Continental Association. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-12-2021, 04:47 PM	#237
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	May 20, 1935 I will start this week's recap with a quick note that there is a rare opening in our online league. It is a great opportunity as well as the open team is the defending World Champion Cleveland Foresters. The Foresters GM decide to move and take on the task of rebuilding arguably the worst organization in the league so his team is available. This is a fantastic league and if you have been following my dynasty I am sure you are the type of person that would love it. I would say at least 10 of our GMs are original guys and everyone in the league is very willing to help anyone new to either online league play or stats-only. As it mentions in my first post or two in this thread I joined the league because I loved a great story, and our commissioner - who does not own a team - has created an incredibly in depth 'alternate' baseball universe. Don't worry if you are new to online leagues as I was in the exact same boat when I joined. You can count on plenty of help and a very immersive experience you can either contribute to by writing about your own team's exploits or if you simply want to run your club then instead of writing about the league just follow along with all of the great material on this board and in our slack channel. We have owners that write and owners who prefer to sit back and just focus on the few minutes needed each sim to ensure their team export is done and answer any slack messages with trade discussions and both groups can be equally successful in the league. By far Figment Baseball the best experience I have had with OOTP, and that includes all of the solo projects I have done since OOTP2. PM me or the commish Legendsport if you are interested or just want some more information. Even if you don't want to join make sure you read Legendsport's Ballad of the Barrells and the Figment Universe History if you haven't already. MAY 20, 1935 HOPEFULLY EVERY WEEK IS LIKE THIS ONE The newcomers from Detroit arrived and the Kings enjoyed a 6-1 week to open their lead on second place Philadelphia atop the Continental Association to 3.5 games. We began the week with a 3-game sweep of the Chicago Cougars which extended our winning streak to 7 games and finished off our long homestand with a 16-6 record. Now we go on the road for an equally tough stretch (just have to love these 1930s schedules) that will see us play 15 games over 15 days with stops in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Toronto, Chicago and finally Montreal. The road trip began with 4 against the Sailors and after dropping the opener of the series 3-2, we rebounded with 3 straight wins. Al Wheeler, the 27 year old two-time Federal Association Whitney Award winning outfielder we acquired from Detroit, kicked off his career as a King very nicely, batting .480 for the week with 2 homers, 9 rbi's and 10 runs scored. I did not think anyone could outshine Harry Barrell, who is hitting .401 on the season and riding a 19 game hitting streak but Wheeler did as Barrell hit 'just' .412 with 8 rbi's last week. The other newcomer is Frank Vance, a 32 year old third baseman who had been red hot all season in Detroit. We have asked Frank to move to a new position, first base, because we have second year man John Langille (.345,2,23) set at third so perhaps that might have impacted Vance at the plate slightly. Regardless the veteran Vance went 6-for-23 with 4 walks for us last week so certainly not a terrible debut. Either way I have little concern about our offense at this time. Pitching, on the other hand, still worries me. Not so much Tom Barrell (4-3, 4.04), despite the fact Barrell suffered his third loss of the season this week after going the entire season a year ago (29-3) with just 3. Or Mike Murphy (6-1, 3.38) as the 27 year old overcame a couple of rough starts to the season but has been the guy who won 21 games for us last year ever since. 31 year old Joe Shaffner (4-1, 2.62) has also been very good and has taken over the #3 spot in our 4 man rotation. The worry lies primarily in veteran Ken Carpenter (3-4, 5.89), who was outstanding last season after we picked him up from Baltimore and was great in spring training but has been awful since the season started. We received a glimmer of hope that he perhaps has righted himself with a 7 inning, 4-hit 3 earned run effort against the Philadelphia Sailors on Saturday but prior to that he had allowed at least 5 earned runs in each of his 5 previous starts. I want to stick with him, as my scouting director feels he is our best option at #4 and manager Wally Grant agrees so we will give Carpenter another sim but the rope is certainly getting shorter. I had to park Jack Beach, the 32 year old former Allen Award Winner we got from Detroit, in AAA last sim waiting for Chuck Murphy to be moved off of our roster and what I saw from Beach in Rochester was not pretty. He lost both of his decisions but what worried me the most was his first start vs Richmond when he allowed 10 hits and walked 4 in 6 and two-thirds vs AAA opponents. He was a little better in his second outing but also was tagged with the loss. I had been planning on having him take Carpenter's spot next week if Carpenter continues to struggle but now I am not so sure. My other choice for the final spot in our four man rotation should Carpenter continue to struggle is 37 year old Max Wilder. We paid a big price in prize prospect Ken Mayhugh to get Wilder from the Boston Minutemen at the deadline last year only to see him get hurt and pitch just 5 games for us, and not do very well in them either. He had a rough spring so I have not used him much this season, just 4 relief appearances but I likely should give him an opportunity at some point. The rest of our bullpen which consists primarily of Del Lyons and Hal Galvan has been good as always with the pair combining to go 3-1 with 3 saves. We also have Bert Henggeler, the waiver wire pickup from Cleveland in the pen and he has been quite solid as well. So yes, other teams might look at this and be envious that my only worry right now is the bottom guy in my rotation but there is immense pressure on the Kings this season to win it all, something Brooklyn has never done and after Cleveland winning the title a year ago we are the only one of the 16 FABL franchises to never win a World Championship Series. MINORS I felt a little pang of pride to get word that Earle Robinson pitched a no-hitter in his second game in the Detroit system. Robinson was one of the pieces I moved in the big trade last week and was the 5th overall draft pick in 1933. He had previously thrown a perfect game in high school during our feeder league games. The fact that this no-hitter came at the expense of my Southeastern League farm club Tampa did temper the pride slightly. Luis Galvan won player of the week honours in the AA Dixie League with Knoxville. Galvan is a 32 year old career minor leaguer who's contract I purchased from the independent Portland Green Sox prior to the 1932 season. He was brought in just to add minor league depth but has been outstanding wherever I played him including hitting .288 in 73 at bats I gave him in Brooklyn a couple of years ago. He is tearing up the Dixie League this season, batting .487. Galvan will likely never be back in the big leagues but is a tremendous minor league first baseman. I try to have 1 or two guys like that at each level just to mentor my prospects. The main one is Hector Rosario, a 34 year old first baseman we signed as a free agent in 1927 after New Orleans, another indy team, cut him loose. I rewarded his work ethic and leadership with 5 games in Brooklyn in September of 1932 but he has spent nearly all of his career with the Kings bouncing between A and AA. This season he his batting .330 for Class A Springfield and is the team leader. Just thought I would give both of these character guys some publicity. Another future leader but I expect it will be in Brooklyn is 18 year old Dan Rogers. My first round pick (14th overall) last December was just promoted from Class C Marshalltown to Tampa of the Class B Southeastern League after the Canton, Ohio native hit .345 with 4 homers in his first 26 games of pro ball. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-16-2021, 12:55 PM	#238
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	June 3, 1935 STILL #1 BUT CLEVELAND IS CLOSING The Kings had a decent couple of weeks, going 4-3 in each of them with all but the final series on the road. Unfortunately the Cleveland Foresters have awakened from their early season slumber and closed to within 4 games after going 11-3 over the past two weeks. Their pitching has really picked up and so has 40 year old Max Morris. The all-time homerun king was in a bit of a power slump but belted 3 homers over the past 8 days to give him 673 for his career. I knew the Foresters were going to be strong, but with their slow start I had thought maybe there was a chance we could maintain a nice lead on them and build a very solid cushion by the all-star break to make the second half a little less stressful than it was last season, when we lost to Cleveland by a single game. We have not played badly at all, in fact we have not had a losing sim week yet, but I can't help but worry that a number of guys are not quite playing up to their potential. The obvious one who's performance is off compared to last season is 37 year old Ken Carpenter, who went 16-6 for his with a 119 ERA+ after being acquired from Baltimore. This year Carpenter has struggled, posting a 5-5 record with a 5.12 era and his ERA+ is 93. He had a couple of decent starts two weeks ago and I thought he might be coming around but he struggled again his last two outings, although did do enough to get the win in a 6-5 victory over the New York Stars last week. With Carpenter struggling and two off days this week I am dropping down to a 3-man rotation with Tom Barrell (5-6,3.71) and Joe Shaffner (7-2, 2.67) each getting a pair of starts and Mike Murphy (8-2, 3.49) getting the other one. Barrell is also a bit of a concern as my ace, while still pitching well is a fair bit off of his pace of last season. Tom almost seems like he alternates a great year with just a good year as his production thus far seems much closer to his average 1933 season than his very strong 1932 and Allen Award winning 1934 campaigns. I knew going in to the season there was little chance Barrell would duplicate his amazing 1934 campaign but I had hoped he would be closer, although there is still plenty of time left for him to pick things up. Mike Murphy is on track for another 20-win season and while not quite as dominant as he was a year ago he is still having a great season and was named CA pitcher of the month for May after winning all 7 of his starts with a 1.80 era. The big positive for us has been Joe Shaffner as the 31 year old New York City native is off to the best start of his career. We acquired him last season from St Louis at the cost of a very good pitching prospect in Dixie Lee with the idea he would be the #4 starter and step into the #3 role in a couple seasons when Carpenter started to falter. Fortunately we made that move as there are fears Carpenter is faltering earlier than we had expected. I made a couple of roster moves this week with the pitchers. Max Wilder, who had appeared in just 1 game for us, and Jack Beach, who had not pitched for Brooklyn since coming over from Detroit, were both sent down to AAA. The main purpose was to get them some innings to see which I could trust if I need to use one of them to replace Carpenter in the rotation. I am not 100% decided on Carpenter being exiled to the pen beyond the short week this sim, but I did recall 23 year old lefthander Art White from Rochester. White, a former third round pick out of George Fox University, had been out since midway through spring training when he suffered a hamstring injury. The lefthander was the #39 ranked prospect in the game but just dropped off the list I assume because of major league service time. OSA calls him a future rotation anchor and my scouting director John Spears, while slightly less optimistic, feels the lefthander can become a very good starting pitcher. The question is whether that time is now. White had a pair of pretty good starts in Rochester last week, which is what I had hoped as the plan was all along to call him up after a tune-up week in AAA. He will spend this week in the pen where he may or may not get a chance to pitch. Unless he does pitch and really struggles I am planning on giving him a start over Carpenter the next time I need a #4 starter, which likely won't be until the middle of the month against Chicago. White made his Kings debut last year, going 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA before being sent down to the minors when I added vets Shaffner and Wilder. The second call-up was a position player as I do not need 9 pitchers on the big league roster. I was debating between Phil Vaughan, Art Summers and Rabbit Mudd before finally deciding on the middle infielder Mudd who was slashing .362/.399/.604 in AAA while providing plus defense at shortstop. The purpose of the call-up was to give me an extra bat as a pinch-hitter but Mudd also gives me another defensive option to replace second sacker Jake Shadoan in late inning situations when needed. Mudd and my other utility middle infielder Walt Layton are both capable of being very good starting shortstops in this league but they have the misfortune of slotting behind Harry Barrell, who is arguably the best SS in FABL. I would like to move one of them and will have to at some point but I am not going to just give either of them away. Mudd got the callup partly to showcase him a little bit in Brooklyn for a potential trade but also to help me decide whether it is he or Layton I want to keep long term as my utility infielder. I really debated recalling Art Summers, who you may recall was demoted early in the season after a terrible start. The 28 year old, who has played 661 games in a Kings uniform, has hit well in Rochester (.326,3,18 in 26 games) but I went with Mudd instead. The other choice was 30 year old first baseman Phil Vaughan (.303,16,37) who has been outstanding in Rochester since we claimed the former Chicago Cougar (230 FABL games) off of waivers early in the season. Vaughan would strictly be a pinch-hitter but he will likely find himself in Brooklyn at some point during the season, although perhaps not before the September roster expansion. As for the offense I don't think there is anywhere I can upgrade our starting lineup as all 8 of the everyday players are what I would consider to be all-star calibre, with second year 3B John Langille (.320,4,31) and rookie centerfielder Bill May (.302,1,16) the only ones who have not actually played in an all-star game. Langille should have been there last season after hitting .359 and was first or second in league batting average at the break a year ago. He would get a chance this year - at least not as a starter- as he was left off the ballot with Frank Vance being placed there as our 3B candidate despite the fact Vance has been moved to 1B. A short week this time with just 5 games, all on the road. We open in Baltimore for two and finish with a weekend 3 game set against the New York Stars. So while we are playing the bottom two teams in the Continental Association, the Cleveland Foresters are also on the road against the Chicago Cougars and Philadelphia Sailors. Far too early for scoreboard watching but this is a week we need to win 4, if not sweep, and perhaps add a little more room between us and Cleveland. The Stars normally give us trouble but we are 7-2 against them this season while Baltimore is the only team against whom we have a losing record at 3-4. The Foresters have losing records against both the Cougars and Sailors this season but that is primarily due to playing them early when Cleveland was struggling. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-18-2021, 09:35 PM	#239
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	June 17, 1935 KINGS STRETCH LEAD TO 6 GAMES After winning 9 of their last 12 games the Brooklyn Kings have extended their lead atop the Continental Association to 6 games over the Cleveland Foresters and 9.5 ahead of third place Philadelphia. Two weeks ago the Kings went 4-1 sweeping last place Baltimore in a two game set before winning two of three over the Stars in New York. Last week was another 4 win sim with a split of a 4-game series at home against the Philadelphia Stars before taking 2 in a row from Chicago on the weekend. The Kings have two more with Chicago before another showdown with Cleveland as the Foresters come to Kings County Ballpark for a 4 game set beginning Wednesday. The offense continues to roll with Frank Vance being the latest King to earn CA player of the week honours. The 33 year old had a slow introduction to Brooklyn after being acquired along with Al Wheeler in the huge May deal with Detroit but Vance is starting to live up to his reputation, hitting .455 in June including .619 last week when he went 13 for 21 with 8 rbi's. Wheeler has been everything we hoped for right from the moment he arrived in Brooklyn, with 13 homers and 41 rbi's in 32 games since the trade including 8 dingers in the past two weeks. In fact the entire offense is doing just fine right now with only two regulars, Jake Shadoan and catcher Fred Barrell, hitting under .300. Pitching remains a bit of a worry as Tom Barrell (8-7, 3.58) continues to be merely ordinary this season but Joe Shaffner (9-3, 3.09) remains an integral piece of the rotation and is tied for the team lead in wins despite receiving the least amount of run support in his starts. Mike Murphy (9-3, 4.22) has had some very good games but also some poor ones such as allowing 10 runs (7 earned) against Philadelphia in a game last week. The offense bailed him out though and he still got the win in an 11-10 result. Speaking of offense, Art White can't ask for much more from our bats in his two starts since replacing Ken Carpenter in the rotation. White pitched 7 innings in a 13-6 win over Philadelphia early in the week and followed it up with a complete game 11-3 win over the Chicago Cougars yesterday. The 37 year old Carpenter (5-5, 5.11) will remain in the pen at least for now but he is the final relief option and pitched to just 1 batter the past two weeks. ANOTHER TRADE The Kings made another minor move this week in an effort to recoup draft picks. Rabbit Mudd is a promising young SS/2B that was drafted 15th overall out of Milwaukee High School in 1929. He has played a total of 274 games with the big club and has a .260 lifetime average but since Brooklyn added Harry Barrell he has spent most of his time in AAA Rochester for whom he is batting .362 with 6 homers this season. Mudd is in his last option year so I felt the time was right to move him and give him the opportunity to play regularly in the major leagues. Brooklyn dealt him to the New York Gothams, who are looking to add some offense in the middle infield without sacrificing defense and Mudd certainly fits the bill. In return Brooklyn picks up New York's second round pick in the December draft. That move and early trades of other players running out of options now give the Kings 5 picks in the first six rounds (3 fourths and a 6th rounder) to help recover some draft capital we greatly depleted with the decision to send our first 8 picks to Detroit in the Wheeler/Vance deal. MINOR LEAGUES The trade of Mudd likely opens the door for Phil Vaughan to be promoted to Brooklyn. A waiver wire pickup from the Chicago Cougars, the 30 year old first baseman is leading the Union League in homers with 20 and second in rbi's with 48 while batting .279 for Rochester. I am still debating on who to recall next Monday once Mudd officially vacates the roster but the odds are I will take Vaughan over outfielder Art Summers (.281,4,25) who had spent the previous 5 seasons in Brooklyn but was struggling this year and demoted after Wheeler was added to our outfield. After multiple trades of prospects over the past season and a half we only have 1 player remaining in our system who is listed among the top 100 prospects. (Two if you count Art White who was recently removed from the list because he exceeded major league service time). Bob Cummings was selected 7th overall out of College of San Diego in the 1933 draft. He was solid in 3 levels a year ago and returned to AA Knoxville, where he finished last season, to start this campaign. He is 6-4 with a 3.26 era and an impressive 146 ERA+ so I plan to move the 22 year old up to AAA Rochester in the next couple of weeks. My Scouting Director John Spears is really high on Cummings and feels he has the talent to be a number one starter. Cummings is presently ranked 36th overall (13th among pitchers) Brooklyn's top 4 prospects according to OSA are all pitchers. Pepper Tuttle and Jimmy Gibbs are a pair of 19 year old's ranked two and three in the Kings system. Tuttle was a fourth round pick out of Hartford High School in 1933 and after spending last season in Class C and beginning this year at the same level he was recently promoted to Class B Tampa. His outstanding curve is the best of his four solid pitches and he has plenty of movement. We project him as a back of the rotation guy. Gibbs was our 8th round pick out of Collinwood High School in Cleveland and is adapting nicely to pro ball at Class C Marshalltown. The record (2-5) and era (5.51) are not there yet but his ERA+ is about average and Spears sees his ceiling as perhaps a #3 starter but he is raw. The fourth pitcher is another former High Schooler, but Mule Earl is now 22. The Kings selected him in the 6th round of the 1931 draft and after 3 seasons in Class C we are trying him in B this year. The team is bad but Earl (1-8, 4.19) has been one of our better pitchers at that level. Tuttle is presently ranked 132nd among prospects by OSA, with Gibbs at 141st and Earl sitting in the 163rd slot. After a hot start Brooklyn's first round pick last December has really struggled since his promotion to Class B. Outfielder Dan Rogers was taken out of Canton, Ohio 14th overall and he started the season as OSA's #51 ranked prospect. He was slashing .345/.381/.509 after 24 games at Marshalltown so I moved him up to Tampa but he has struggled in Class B with a slash line of .204/.231/.286 and has dropped to 194th on the OSA list. I hate to have to drop him back to C but it looks like that is going to have to happen. The guy I should likely have taken instead of Rogers is the son of our bench coach Danny Goff. We had hoped Brooklyn native Jack Goff would have dropped to us in the second round but Toronto selected the younger Goff early in that round. So far Jack is looking very good at Vancouver of the Class B COW League. Speaking of sons of current Kings staff members, hitting coach and all-hit FABL hit king Powell Slocum's step-son James is off to a good start as a freshman at Brooklyn Xaverian High School. He hit .469 this season and, while not draft eligible until 1938, is being touted as a potential above average big league outfielder. DRAFT PROSPECTS So now that we have replenished our stock of draft picks somewhat I can start to focus a little more on the December draft. Our first pick won't be until late in the second round, barring any other trades, but there are some Brooklyn kids that are drawing interest from our scouting staff. I might talk about the prospects from the other New York boroughs in the future as there are a bunch but here are the Brooklyn draft eligible players. TONY BERMUDA - An outfielder at Jefferson High School, the 18 year old has the potential to hit over .300 but the worry is he won't develop the power needed to play regularly as a corner outfielder. He hit .446 with just 1 homer in 20 games at Jefferson High this season. LEON CAVASOS - The pride of St Edmund Prep has committed to Cumberland University after going 9-2 with a 1.41 era over two prep seasons. An 18 year old lefthander is a groundball pitcher with pinpoint control that had been the beneficiary of some talk that he might have been a first round pick. However, he did not advance as much as hoped this season and may be the type of player available when the Kings pick late in the second round. JIM COULTER - Born in Bayonne, NJ, the 21 year old second baseman is a junior at Brooklyn State. He has hit .286 with 3 homers and 82 rbi's in 109 college games. Has outstanding speed but there are doubts if he can hit well enough at the next level to be able to take advantage of it. CHUBBY HALL - The Westinghouse High outfielder is pegged as a potential second division starter after hitting .535 with 6 homers in 23 games this season - his only one of high school ball. CLINT HAMILTON- A 17 year old lefthander from South Shore High, Hamilton is considered very raw at the moment. He did go 5-2 with a 2.50 era this season and is 8-4, 2.38 over two years at South Shore but projects to have the upside of a bullpen piece only. ORVILLE KING - A 21 year old outfielder who grew up in Brooklyn and now plays for Brooklyn Catholic University. Scouts love his work ethic and defensive skills but he will need to work on his hitting if he wants to be considered a prospect. Hit .279 with 5 homers and 88 rbi's over two seasons with Brooklyn Catholic. ANDY LICANO - Born in Puerto Rico but his family recently moved to Brooklyn. The 18 year old catcher attends Fort Hamilton High School and has been very consistent, batting .438 in each of his two seasons. He is a strong defensive catcher but likely projects to be at best a backup catcher in the big leagues. SPUD NICHOLS - Scouts give little chance for the 18 year old from Lincoln High School to ever develop enough to challenge for a major league job. BILL SEABOLT - The Brooklyn born 20 year old is a junior with Central Ohio University. He has gone 15-9 with a 3.17 era over two seasons with the Aviators and looks like a potential middle of the rotation starter. LUIS TAPIA - Nicknamed El Marmota, Tapia went 8-2 with a 1.72 era in his only season at Madison High School after moving to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico last year. He has committed to Grange College but the lefthander could be taken in the first few rounds of the draft. He is said to have the upside potential to be a number 2 starter one day. ED WATSON - The 21 year old righthander is a teammate of Coulter's at Brooklyn State. He came east from San Diego to play his college ball and has the makings of a mid-rotation starter. He had a better sophomore season that he performed this year but is 12-10, 3.90 over two seasons with the school. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles

02-22-2021, 08:55 AM	#240
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,873	July 1, 1935 JULY 1, 1935 LEAD IS SHRINKING The Brooklyn Kings endured their first losing sim of the season two weeks ago, going 3-4 but followed it up with a 4-2 sim this week. Unfortunately, the Cleveland Foresters won 5 of 6 this past week and our lead is now just 4 games atop the Continental Association. With the July 4th holiday everyone has a doubleheader that day so we will play 8 games this week, as will the Foresters. Two weeks ago we led by 6 games but Cleveland is chipping away as they gained a game back each week and now it is getting a little too tight for my liking. The Kings captured a bunch of hardware this past week with the best news being Tom Barrell (11-8, 3.35) was named the pitcher of the month after posting a 6-2 record in 8 June starts. Barrell had a slow, at least by his standards, start to the season but hopefully turned the corner after two outstanding outings last week. First he allowed just 4 hits in a 6-3 win over Toronto and then tossed his best game of the season, a 2 hit shutout of Montreal on Saturday. Each of my top three starters have 11 wins now, which is tops in the league. Al Wheeler just keeps on belting homeruns since coming over from Detroit in May. Wheeler was named both batter of the month for June and player of the week. In fact the player of the week award was his second in a row and third in a 4 week span. Since coming to the Kings Wheeler is hitting .411 with 17 homers and 56 rbi's in 45 games. With the extra games I will need to use a fourth starter so vetern Ken Carpenter is going to get one more chance in the rotation. The 37 year old was terrific for us last year, going 16-6 with a 3.63 era since coming over from Baltimore early in the season but he has struggled this season (5-5, 4.98) in 12 starts before being exiled to the pen. He has made three appearances out of the pen and looked pretty good, so after rookie Art White struggled against Cleveland in his last start nearly 3 weeks ago, I have decided to hand the ball to Carpenter this week. The offense continues to roll along so I will make no changes there this week. We begin the week at home with 3 games against 7th place Baltimore before the New York Stars make a quick stop in Kings County Ballpark for a doubleheader on the 4th. From there we head across the border to Montreal for a 3-game weekend send against the Saints just before Monday's All-Star game. It was against the Saints that we lost two of three this past weekend. Speaking of the All-Star Break, I need to cast my ballot today. Here are my selections for the Federal Association PITCHERS - Sam Sheppard (13-4, 2.94) is having an amazing season in St Louis, especially considering he was a rule V pickup from Detroit 4 years ago and has gone 60-41, 3.98 over his 3 and a half years with the Pioneers. Former Cleveland Forester Walter Murphy (9-5, 2.99), who was dealt to Pittsburgh just before opening day, and New York Gothams righthander Hardin Bates (7-6, 2.61), the reigning FA Allen Award winner who leads the loop in ERA this season, round out my starting pitchers. There are a couple more starters I would like to pick but the game only allows 3 starters as it requires two relievers to be on the ballot. Due to the era I will follow the suggestion of another GM in our league and not vote for any relievers out of protest. CATCHER - Hard to ignore what 21 year old George Cleaves (.351,7,51) is doing in Pittsburgh but I have to give my vote to John Wicklund (.336,13,53) of the Gothams. FIRST BASE - Another tough choice but I will take Fred McCormick (.337,15,75) of St Louis over Rankin Kellogg of Philadelphia (.324,19,67). Chicago's Bob Martin (.325,6,41) is another solid performer here. SECOND BASE - Andy Carter (.321.0.16)is having a nice year with Washington but this is not even close. St Louis' Freddie Jones (.372,3,38), who's younger brother Al was recently named AIAA college player of the year, is a no-brainer. THIRD BASE- There are some third basemen in the Fed having strong seasons. Chief Raymond (.358,4,24) is one of the few bright spots remaining in Detroit after the fire sale. Chicago's Len Jones (.373,5,53) and Mel Carroll (.310,5,38) are also playing well as is Johnny McDowell (.350, 0,26) of the New York Gothams. Jones is leading the FA in batting average at this writing so I will give him the nod over McDowell. SHORTSTOP - This one is between Earl Michael (.326,1,36) of St Louis and Bob Barringer (.320,1,27) who was recently dealt from Detroit to Chicago. I am voting for Barringer with his defensive skills being the deciding factor. LEFT FIELD- A tough choice here but I am going to reward veteran Jim Hampton (.331,6,52) for another strong season in Chicago but Philadelphia's Rip Curry (.361,6,30), New York's Moxie Pidgeon (.289,13,53) made it a very tough call. CENTER FIELD- There is no shortage of candidates but Boston's Chick Donnelly (.364,7,46) stands above them all and is a fan favourite. RIGHT FIELD - Easy choice in Bobby Barrell (.334,15,61) of Philadelphia but there are some quality rightfielders in the Fed including Doug Lightbody's younger brother Frank (.338,1,48) of Pittsburgh and Washington Eagle Sam Brown (.335,11,46) who I came very close to selecting over Barrell. CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION I will try to not be overly biased but it is going to be tough not to pick a King at most positions. STARTING PITCHING - Joe Shaffner (11-5, 3.08) not being on the ballot really bothers me as he deserves to be there. I will take Tom Barrell (11-8, 3.35) after his amazing season last year and the fact he is now tied for the CA win lead following a slow start. I also have to reward Mike Murphy (11-3,3.92) for his great work this season but that means I can only take one of William Jones (10-5, 3.96) of Philadelphia, Dutch Leverett (7-6, 3.65) from Baltimore, Chicago's Dick Luedtke (10-5, 4.73), Doc Newell (8-6, 3.46) from Philadelphia and Montreal's George Thomas (8-4, 3.52). In the end I go with Jones but sure hope Thomas makes the team as a reserve. CATCHER - TR Goins (.283,9,42) may be down in production a bit this year but the Cleveland slugger is always an all-star in my books. I hope Brooklyn's Fred Barrell (.281,2,29) gets a spot on the team but it looks doubtful with Baltimore's Joe Welch (.314,10,34), Montreal rookie Tom Bird (.325,5,34) and the New York Stars Speed Davis (.328,6,34) all in the mix. FIRST BASE - Don't even need to look at the stats. As long as he is starting in this league Max Morris (.325,10,47) is my pick. Sorry Vic Crawford, Dave Trowbridge and Dick Walker but that is the way it is. SECOND BASE - I couldn't take George Cleaves as my catcher for the FA, but I won't make that mistake with his brother. Philadelphia's Jack Cleaves (.323,2,37) gets my vote over Bill Ashbaugh (.343,5,30) of the Chicago Cougars, Brooks Meeks (.332,4,30) of Cleveland and Brooklyn's Jake Shadoan (.303,5,37) THIRD BASE - I feel bad for Brooklyn's John Langille as he does not make the ballot because Frank Vance (.365,6,57 combined Det/Bkn) gets the Kings nomination as he played third in Detroit but is our first baseman. Regardless Vance is my choice here but the Stars John Lawson (.382,4,40) will get a lot of support also. SHORTSTOP- No homer bias here. Brooklyn's Harry Barrell (.377,1,41) is a name you can just check off on your CA ballot for the next decade. But George Dawson (.341,5,47) is having a great year in Cleveland. LEFT FIELD - No offense to Leon Drake (.310,8,51) of Cleveland or Chicago's Doc Love (.324,11,51) but the clear choice is Brooklyn's Al Wheeler (.353,22,75 combined Det/Bkn) who already leads the CA in homers and is second in rbi's despite playing the first month of the season in the Fed. CENTER FIELD - Mike Mason (.358,1,22) is having a career year at the plate with the New York Stars but his defense is suspect to say the least. Centerfield in the CA is a young mans game and at the risk of being called a homer I will give the nod to 22 year old Bill May (.308,1,27) of my Kings just ahead of Montreal's 24 year old Pablo Reyes (.309,2,27). RIGHT FIELD- I so want to vote for Doug Lightbody (.349,3,45), who is having another great season in Brooklyn after seemingly on the downside of his career just two years ago but thanks to what Lou Kelly (.386,11,60) is doing for the Cougars the best I can do is hope Lightbody beats out Baltimore's Jim Mason (.356,6,45) for the backup spot. Here are the CA players I voted for. The all-star game takes place one week from today. Attached Images __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles