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10-14-2022, 04:16 PM
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#541 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
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April 24, 1944: Season is Underway
 APRIL 24, 1944 PLAY BALL! 1944 SEASON IS UNDERWAY Baseball is back and so too it appears are the Pittsburgh Miners. Many, although Dan Barrell of the OSA was one notable exception, pegged the Miners as a middle of the table club at best this season but judging by the first week the Pittsburgh Nine may be tough to handle. Now it is only seven games but starting the season with six straight victories before finally dropping the second game of yesterday's twin bill vs Boston while averaging close to 7 runs a contest will certainly cause many to take notice. It was newcomer Moxie Pidgeon, acquired from Cincinnati the day before the season started, that led the way, batting .370 with 2 homers and looking comfortable in his new spot as the Miners first baseman. Pidgeon had plenty of company in the list of those off to a solid start in Pittsburgh with outfielders Like Berry (.480,2,7) and Whit Williams (.310,1,9) also near the top. The fact that Pittsburgh's fast start came at the expense of Washington and Boston - a pair of teams expected to among the better squads in the Fed this season- makes it all the more impressive. The test for Pittsburgh will get harder in the week ahead with trips to Philadelphia and rematch with the Minutemen in Boston. Those two clubs each received plenty of support as the teams to beat in the Fed this season. While the Minutemen struggled through a 2-5 opening week -thanks in no small part to 3 losses in 4 outings vs Pittsburgh- the Keystones had a 4-2 start as they faced the same two opponents in Pittsburgh and Washington that the Miners started with. The first week in the Continental Association saw little separation as each of the 8 teams sit within a game of each other. Toronto, at 3-2 claims the top spot thanks to some outstanding pitching while 2-3 Philadelphia is the only other team not to finish the opening week at .500.   MOSS HITS 3 HOMERS VS STARS The opening week of the season saw something that has only happened 21 times previously in FABL history - a player hit 3 homeruns in a single game. Cliff Moss of the Chicago Cougars turned the trick Wednesday in an 11-2 romp over the New York Stars. For Moss, who also accomplished the feat in 1938 while playing for the Chicago Chiefs, it makes him just the second player ever to hit three homers in two different FABL games. He joins Tom Taylor, who was actually a teammate of Moss on the '38 Chiefs and on the Chicago bench for Cliff's 3-homers off Boston's Art Keeter that day, as the only two to accomplish it. Taylor enjoyed his two big bat days just 4 days apart in August on 1928. As for last week Moss, who was named the Continental Association player of the week for his efforts, hit his first homer Wednesday as a solo shot in the 4th inning off Stars starter Johnny Cook to put the Cougars up 2-0 at the time. In the seventh he hit a 2-run shot off of reliever Ben Watkins to make the score 10-1 and then added a solo shot off Watkins with one out in the bottom of the ninth to complete the Chicago scoring. The first of those three homeruns was the 250th of Moss' career and he finished the day in 14th all-time with 252 homeruns. His Cougars teammate (and also former teammate with the Chiefs for his last 3 HR game) Hank Barnett would homer a couple of days later to pull even with Moss at 252 for his career.   IS PANNETON TOO GOOD FOR COLLEGE BALL? Aberdeen College Righthander Ranked Higher Than Most FABL Hurlers By OSA We have seen a number of position players make the jump straight from the college ranks to the big leagues without making a pit stop in the minors but it is almost unheard of for a pitcher to take such a path. Eli Panneton appears to be no ordinary pitcher. The 22 year old from Winnipeg, Canada did not play high school ball or even college ball prior to this year. Instead he has pitched in various semi-pro loops in his home country until catching the attention of Jud Colflesh, the head baseball coach at Aberdeen University in South Dakota and a former draft pick of the Montreal Saints. Colflesh convinced Panneton to come to his school last September and was instrumental in getting big league scouts out to see him workout before the FABL draft began in January. All came away very impressed but none more so than the New York Stars, who selected the righthander 4th overall despite the fact he has yet to play any high level amateur ball. Panneton and his Aberdeen College Wolves teammates have just embarked on their season and OSA is now so excited with the 22 year old that they list him third among all pitchers not in the military right now. That's not prospects. That's established big league arms. Panneton ranks only behind Ed Bowman and the injured Deuce Barrell (along with Cougars war contributions Pete Papenfus and Donnie Jones) in the scouting services list of the best pitchers in the world. It is hard not to imagine a scenario where Panneton does not make his big league debut immediately after inking a contract with the Stars. That will have to be after June 22nd as FABL clubs are prohibited from signing their draftees until after the full draft is completed on that date. No amateur pitcher has ever graced a top twenty player list, something that has been maintained by the league for decades. It will be very interesting to see what kind of numbers Panneton puts up at a lower level school like Aberdeen College, and even more intriguing is just what will he do when he finally makes it to New York?  In game one Duke Hendricks could not get out of the first inning bombed him for 7 runs. Although only two of those runs were earned thanks in large part to Clifton Smith's third error of the season, it was not a good showing for Hendricks who was coming off a bad spring to begin with. Butch Campbell provided 6.1 innings of solid relief and the offense did score five runs on ten hits but they could never overcome the seven spot the Miners scored in the second. In game two another error for Smith at SS leading to another unearned run that would play huge in a 4-2 loss. Although it is early in the season Billy Boshart must be thinking about a move at SS. The red hot Pittsburgh offense handed it to Dean Astle in game three of the series getting him for 5 earned runs and handing him his second loss in as many starts on the season. Bill Moore hit his first home run in the game for Boston in this one, but they were never really in it from the start. In the second game of the double header Ed Wood saved Boston from complete embarrassment with a 8.1 inning 2 earned run performance. The offense was able to cobble together five runs on eight hits to hand the Miners their only loss of the season. Ol’ Doc knows that it is really dangerous to make any grand assumptions a week into the season. However, in this case it may be warranted. Clifton Smith looks completely lost defensively. His four errors accounted for a number of unearned runs at a key infield position. Offensively, Smith has started the season a paltry 2-24 with seven strikeouts. Ol’ Doc just can’t see Billy Boshart not making a change here. Especially when you have a defensive wizard playing 2B instead of his natural position. Ol’ Doc could definitely see a scenario where Lew moves back to SS, Smith moves to splinter control on the bench and Henry Warren gets a shot at second. As for the week ahead, starting on Tuesday it will be three against Washington on the road before the club heads home to hopefully enact some revenge on the Miners for four in three days. EDITOR'S NOTE - We get a double helping of Doc Shaw today as the below article was a late arriving season preview from the Boston scribe.  Pitchers: The Minutemen have made the decision to break camp with nine pitchers on their roster. This may have to do with the amount of doubleheaders the team will play over the course of the season. Still, it is difficult to see how all nine arms will get adequate work. Pitching Coach Marty Scroggins also shared that Butch Campbell pitched so well this spring that he essentially forced the clubs hand. Campbell and Tom Martin both have options left so a change down the road is entirely possible. Rotation: Dean Astle Ed Wood Walt Wells Duke Hendricks Paul Richardson 34 year old left hander Dean Astle will anchor the Boston rotation this season. If Astle can stay healthy he would really put Ed Wood into some favorable matchups throughout the season. Marty Scroggins views both Astle and Wood as top of the rotation arms and considers them both staff aces. Walt Wells is the consummate innings eater that performs at a high level. The Minutemen credit Wells for a lot of the team's success since he came over in a trade with the Sailors in 1941. Even at 36 years of age Wells has shown no sign of slowing down. If Boston is going to make a run at the FA title, Wells will be key. Hendricks and Richardson will round out the Boston rotation. Last season Hendricks posted a 18-6 record which any club will take from a 4th starter. Richardson was acquired from the Sailors last season and didn’t have quite the same success as he did in Philadelphia but Boston feels that they can get something out of him at the back of the rotation. If not Boston has other options in the pen that may be able to slide into that 5th spot. Bullpen: Butch Campbell Clarence Linden Dick Higgins Tom Martin The big surprise here is Tom Martin in the stopper role going into the season. With five different offerings Boston would love to have Martin in the rotation but after a lackluster Spring are going to start him in the bullpen. OSA and Head Scout Johnny Robards love Martin as an above average starter (possibly #2) but at 25 years of age the performance has not matched the hype. With options left, Martin could see some time in AAA Columbus if he stumbles in the first month of the season. Can anyone believe that this is Dick Higgins 10th year with the club? Injuries have robbed the former 2nd overall pick of the illustrious career everyone in Boston had envisioned. Even still, Higgins serves as the reliable bullpen piece and spot starter. Those players hold a lot of value in the league. Butch Cambell and Clarence Linden will also make the club out of camp. Cambell has options while Linden does not. Linden had a rougher spring and could find himself as an expendable piece if things get too bad. Catchers: Bill Van Ness Bob Artesan Has there been a player where the organization has been more patient with than Van Ness? Going into his 7th season with the big club Bill is coming off his best season as an overall player. That being said, there is still lots of room for growth. Right now Van Ness is rated as the 8th best catcher in the league which may be saying more about the quality of the position in the league as opposed to how far Van Ness has come. With the loss of Jack Flint to the war effort Van ness will be pushed this season to provide more offensively. Infielders: 1B Bill Moore 1B Willie Jones 1B Bob Donoghue 2B Henry Warren 3B Art Spencer SS Lew McClendon SS Clifton Smith SS Bill Gustafson Listing the primary positions of the infielders is not really painting an accurate picture here. Donoghue will see some time in left field, McClendon will play second base and Clifton Smith will take over at SS. The corners will be manned by Bill Moore at 1B and Art Spencer across the diamond at 3rd. The middle infield was the story of the spring. Lew McClendon is an exceptional defensive SS but was gracious enough to move to second when the club acquired Harry Barrell to help the club take the pennant. With Barrell off to war the hole at second reared its ugly head once again. Manager Billy Boshart shared that the club tried to solve the problem through rule V but that didn’t pan out. So the next option, aside from making a trade, was to solve the issue in house. Clifton Smith, the club's second round pick from 1939, was tabbed for the job. Smith is only 22 years old but younger players have been able to contribute so the club spent the spring trying to convert the defensively talented SS to 2B. In the end though it was McClendon that approached the club and offered to move back to 2B to let Smith play his more natural position of SS. Boshart says that “Lew is just a stand up guy, and we are lucky to have such a selfless player”. The move may be short lived however as Smith didn’t show much offensively this spring leaving the club thinking if all they did was put a band-aid on a stab wound. Outfielders: LF Bob Corvin LF Joe Watson RF Bob Bolton RF Pete Day CF Chick Donnelly The starters will be Watson in left, Donnelly in center and Day in right. The outfield group is considered to be another strong point of the club. 1943 Whitney Award winner Pete Day will begin his 11th season in the Boston outfield and will be the club’s primary leadoff batter. Currently Day is sitting at 1696 hits in a Boston uniform. Another solid season would vault Day past Fred Huffman for 4th on the all-time hit list for the Minutemen. Day is the straw that stirs the drink at the top of the lineup. Next to Day in CF will be Chick Donnelly. Chick is also entering his 11th season in the Boston outfield and has quietly put together an amazing career making a case for best hitter to ever wear a Boston Minutemen uniform. At 32 years of age Donnelly is 13 hits shy of 2000 for his career, and 384 hits short of Bill McMurtie (2371) for the organizations all-time hit record. While Donnelly won’t catch McMurtie this season it seems inevitable that he will eclipse that mark. With a good showing through his mid 30’s is it out of the question for Chick to hit 3,000 for his career? The 3000+ hit club only has 11 members in it with Frank Vance, Al Wheeler and possibly Bob Martin with outside chances to join it from the active player pool. Rounding out the outfield will be Joe Watson in left field who the club is counting on for another plus season offensively. First Week: Once the gloves come off to start the season on April 18th the Minutemen will face a major test at home against Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a popular pick to take the Fed this year and they will bring a very solid team to Minuteman Stadium for three games in two days. Next the Minutemen will travel to Pittsburgh who are looking to have a bounce back year and prove they are still a force in the Association. 
 PRO GRID LOOP HOPEFUL BUT KRISTICH SAYS IT'S UP TO GOVERNMENT Whether professional football continues is "up to the Government." league President Jack Kristich said as club owners of the American Football Association opened their four-day meeting. "The league's objective is getting the war over with as quickly as possible," he said. "Therefore, it is up the Government. Whenever they want us to quit we are ready. But," he continued, "I feel we are making a definite contribution to the wartime athletic program by keeping the league in operation. The game is an incentive to our American kids, who gain a fighting spirit that serves them well in war or peace." The AFA head went on record against the replenishing of war-shruken club rosters with boys of subdraft age. "I think boys of 16 or 17 should definitely be in college first," he said. "We must consider the boy himself and his development." Kristich pointed out that football, being a contact sport, makes it necessary to be extremely careful in choosing youngsters. "However, it may be necessary to use some of the younger players due to the manpower shortage," he said. "We are exploiting may sources for material." *** Baltimore Wants Team *** The AFA plans to operate with 10 teams again in 1944, back to it's pre-war number and two more than were active a year ago. The expansion Cincinnati Monarchs are set to join the Washington Wasps -who return after a one year absence- as the newcomers. The Philadelphia Frigates are also back after a year spent as combined team with the St Louis Ramblers. The Ramblers will not compete solo in 1944 either, formalizing a partnership with the Cleveland Finches for the upcoming season. That team will be based out of Cleveland and the plan is for it to be strictly known as the Finiches, unlike a year ago when the Philadelphia- St Louis combined entry earned the nickname Friglers.The selection of Cincinnati, announced earlier this winter, was made over Baltimore as the tenth team in no small part because the league felt the Ohio city would fit in much better with an opening in the Western Division. For Baltimore it is another bitter loss to the Queen City as the the old Baltimore Cannons FABL franchise was sold and moved to Cincinnati prior to the 1940 season. The Baltimore group is so committed to having a team in the AFA this fall that, even after being informed their bid was not accepted at this time, they sent AFA President Jack Kristich a certified check for $25,000 with a letter stating the club will be ready to operate in the fall if the league approves it at it's Philadelphia meetings this week. In the letter to Kristich, the would-be Baltimore owners stated that "if granted a franchise, we are prepared to turn over to you an additional $25,000 immediately, and to operate this year." It seems highly unlikely the bid will be accepted as it would be quite a puzzle for the AFA to put together an operating schedule for an 11-team loop and there is said to be zero chance the league considers operating as a 12-team loop in 1944.  NORTHEAST IS NO LONGER One of the original conferences of college basketball has fallen apart with news that the Northeast Conference is disbanding. While the official word is that the war effort and a focus on reduced travel is the reason, it has been no secret that a pair of Boston schools in Commonwealth Catholic and St. Patrick's have threatened to exit the loop for a few years now. There had been a group of 4 schools, with St Pancras and St Matthew's College joining the Boston duo as those that wanted out but, surprisingly, it was Brooklyn State and Garden State that initiated the destruction of the section. The Bears and Redbirds had been powers of the conference -with 4 AIAA titles between them since 1932- and along with mighty Liberty College -winners of 3 national titles since 1936- had distanced themselves quality-wise from the rest of the group. That created a lot of animosity with the other four, who each enjoyed great success in the past but had all threatened to leave the conference multiple times in recent years. While never publically stated it was clear that the feeling with those four was that if they were independents -or in a conference without Brooklyn State, Garden State and Liberty- they would stand a much better chance of making the National Tournament and the dollars that came with it. For Brooklyn State and Garden State to be the ones to leave it seemed to give the other four what they desired but immediatley following the news of their departure both St Matthew's College - a Washington DC school- and tiny St Martin's College out of Hartford- each cited the war and travel issues as reason they too were dropping out. That left only five schools: Commonwealth Catholic,Frankford State, Liberty College, St Pancras and St Patrick's and the decision was made to, at least temporarily, scuttle the conference and have all play as independents. That is nothing new for the schools as none are members of a conference for football, although they do often schedule each other as independents. All but Garden State had been original members in the Northeast Conference since 1913 with the Redbirds joining the flock two years later. The NEC leaves a rich history that includes 7 National Tournament Championship winning teams and 5 times an NEC athlete was named AIAA Basketball Player of the Year.  The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 4/23/1944
__________________
Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 10-14-2022 at 05:11 PM. |
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10-17-2022, 01:30 PM
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#542 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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May 1, 1944
MAY 1, 1944 COUGARS AND SAILORS OFF TO HOT START The Chicago Cougars and Philadelphia Sailors each are riding 7-game winning streaks and have opened a fairly sizeable lead on their Continental Association rivals just two weeks into the season. Chicago is 10-3, a half-game better than 9-3 Philadelphia, while no one else in the CA is over .500. The Cougars performance, with their mighty offense leading all of FABL, was expected but the story in Philadelphia is a little more of a surprise. The Sailors have received outstanding pitching from Karl Wallace (2-0, 1.50) and Doc Newell (1-1, 0.50) and some strong offense from Marion Boismenu (.475,1,9) and outfielder Joseph Mills (.368,3,10), who has been dominating in the early going. Meanwhile, the Federal Association seems to be very quickly separating into an upper and lower division. That in itself comes as little surprise although the make-up of the two groups is quite unexpected. The Philadelphia Keystones are in the top group and, at 9-3, are one of three teams sharing the lead. That comes as no shock as most expected the Keystones to be in the mix but the two teams they are tied with for first place are the Chicago Chiefs and Detroit Dynamos. It is very early in the season but few, if any, expected Chicago -with all the pitching it lost over the winter- or Detroit -with how poorly they have played the past two seasons- to ever be 6-games over .500. What is a bigger surprise is the defending Federal Association champion Boston Minutemen are just 5-9 while two others expected to be in the first division in Washington (4-8) and St Louis (3-10) are off to awful starts. At least the New York Gothams, with their 4-9 start, are trying to preserve some sense of order in this chaotic world.   In the first game of the series the Minutemen sent Dean Astle to the mound looking to snap a two game losing streak. Astle went 8 innings and gave up four hits. Two of those hits were a double to Moxie Pidgeon in the 2nd and a go ahead home run to Whit Williams in the seventh. Once again the Boston offense could not do enough and dropped the opener 3-2. In game two the Boston offense finally snapped out of things with a pair of doubles to go along with their ten hits. Unfortunately, Ed Wood was unable to hold down the Miners offense giving up 5 earned in six innings in route to a 5-3 defeat. With their back to the wall it was Walt Wells who once again bailed the Minutemen out. Wells took the ball for the first game of the doubleheader to finish off the series and provided the type of start the Minutemen faithful have come to appreciate. Wells went all nine scattering seven hits and allowing one unearned run. The Boston attack was paced by none other than Chick Donnelly who’s first inning hit off of Karl Johnson marked number 2000 for his career. The mini dugout celebration for Donnelly may have been infectious as the club pounded out ten more hits (Donnelly had two more) and six runs in a 6-1 win. In the final game of the day the Minutemen went off scripts and gave Butch Campbell the start on the mound. Campbell made the team with a great spring start and had been pretty effective out of the Boston bullpen to start the season. With all of the doubleheaders on the schedule this season, Boston as well as every other club, will be looking to get spot starts out of certain individuals throughout the season. In the past that role fell to Dick Higgins, but he has been less than effective to start the season. It would mark the first start on the mound in the 25 year old’s career and what a start it was. Campbell pitched a complete game giving up two earned runs while striking out six Eagles in a 3-2 win to secure a series split. It was quite a finish to a great day of baseball in Boston. Still, even with the wins, Boston finished the week 3-4 and now sit on 5th place in the standings. Things will not get any easier in the week ahead as the Minutemen will stay home for 3 against Washington and then travel to Philadelphia four four games in three days against one of the three clubs in first with a 9-3 record. Chick Donnelly and his Quest for 3,000: As of this writing Chick is at 2,004 hits and will play most of this season at 32 years of age as his birthday is in mid October. That fact alone may be the sole reason as to why Donnelly has an outside chance to become the 12th member of the 3,000 hit club. Even with a good 1944 season Donnelly is probably going to have to play to 40 years of age and most assuredly move off the CF position. Which in-lies the issue as Donnelly has only played in the outfield his entire career. In the coming season will the Minutemen start to train Chick to play 1B or will he move to a corner spot in the outfield? We are of course working off the assumption that the bat holds up and Chick can remain injury free. These are both rather large assumptions as Donnelly is entering a stage of his career where both the bat and the back can begin to wane. There are seven active players that have more hits than Donnelly, the most impressive of the bunch is Bobby Barrell who has 2,460 hits at 33 year of age. Bobby is set to turn 34 in July but he is probably the safest bet out of the active players to get to 3,000 hits. However it shakes out for Chick in the end, he is all but set to retire ahead of Bill McMurtrie’s 2371 hits, which would put him on top spot organizationally in hits. Donnelly also ranks second in Total Bases, first in doubles, and second in home runs. Ol’ Doc hopes to see Donnelly have another 8 seasons of success but he hopes Boston fans know they are witnessing the greatest hitter to ever wear a Boston uniform. Not too shabby for an 11th round pick.  The Cannons were spanked by Philadelphia three times last week, losing in nearly every way imaginable. The Cannons built a quick 5-0 lead in the series opener but when Don Adams had to leave with a minor injury the Cincinnati bullpen decided to do some charity work and as Fred Hall and Tom Barrell -in his Cincy debut- proceeded to gift the Sailors 9 runs in 5 combined innings of work. The next day Philadelphia bats got to Chris Clarke and built a 5-0 lead in a game the bad guys eventually won 5-2 and on Thursday the Cannons finally received some pitching in the series - 7 innings of 1-run ball from Vic Carroll and a strong relief inning from Larry Brown- but couldn't score and loss 1-0 to Doc Newell. The situation could have been desperate for the Cannons as they travelled across the border to play 3 in Toronto. Wins over the Wolves have been hard to come by of late - we all remember last September all to well- but the Cannons put together their first 3-game winning streak of the season and swept the Wolves. Chuck Adams 2-run single in the 8th made a winner out of Jake Smith in a 3-1 victory to open the two-day series on Saturday. Butch Smith (no relation) finally got his first win after going 18-9 a year ago as the number two man behind Deuce. Smith went the distance, spinning a 4-hitter in a 7-1 win to open the Sunday twinbill and the Cannons completed the sweep with a 6-4 victory in the nightcap thanks in no small part to a 3-hit day from Bob Griffith. So there is some hope as the Cannons are 6-6, but already 3.5 games back of the Cougars. Imagine the panic that would have set in had they dropped two of three in Toronto, as the Cannons did at home to the Wolves a little over a week ago. 4-8 and 5.5 games back already with your ace down for the year and big questions in the bullpen and the Cannons season could have been over with a rough homestand. ***HOMESTAND IS KEY *** Makes 6-6 and 3.5 games not seem so bad. A nice 14-6 run on this homestand with a series win over the Cougars and the Cannons will be right there in the mix. Get swept by the Cougars and win 10 or less the next 3 weeks with a long road trip covering the first half of June ahead and the dreams of a repeat would certainly be on the verge of extinction.The offense was the big concern before the spring camp (and Deuce's injury) happened. So far the club seems to be holding it's own in that regard. The Cannons have just 47 runs in 12 games but they do have a positive run differential. However, it is +1 and pales in comparison to the Cougars +29 or even the Sailors +19. Sam Brown has been hurt and Billy Dalton (.217,1,7) has yet to get going so there is some hope in this area but at the same token Buster Farrar's (.355,0,6) hot start behind the plate and Denny Andrews (.342,0,2) strong showing as the new leftfielder likely will level off. Still, if there is a major cause for concern in Cincinnati it lies with the bullpen. The starters have been solid, even without Deuce they have the lowest starters ERA in the CA, but the pen is a worry. With all the doubleheaders again this season you need 8 or 9 guys capable of pitching in the big leagues. Larry Brown remains the closer and already has 3 saves but if Cincinnati needs to use to Fred Hall and Tom Barrell much there could be trouble. The 37 year old Hall was a waiver pickup the Sailors did not have enough confidence in to keep and Tom Barrell -Deuce's uncle and a 3-time Allen Award winner- came over from Pittsburgh just before Opening Day in a deal for Moxie Pidgeon that the Cannons are already regretting. Both made their debut in Philadelphia and were responsible for blowing the 5-0 lead in the series opener. Sure, it is just one game but neither instills much fear in opposing hitters and you have to wonder how long the Cannons will wait before reaching down to Indianapolis for either veteran Gary Harris or one of the rookies like Stan Kenny or Jesse Woods, both of whom were very impressive in spring camp. *** VETERAN JONES ADDED *** Cincinnati did add a veteran bat today with the news that Henry Jones had been claimed on waivers from the New York Stars. The 39 year is just 16 hits shy of 2,000 for his career and has 260 homeruns on his resume. The claim was initially submitted on Opening Day with the idea that Jones might be handed the starting leftfield job but with Denny Andrews hitting as well as he has been, Jones will likely end up on the bench as a pinch-hitting option. Andrews defense as he learns a new position has sometimes been an adventure but as long as he keeps hitting he will be in the lineup according to Cannons bench boss Ad Doria. THIS AND THAT: Little has been revealed regarding the roster for the Cincinnati Monarchs but the American Football Association's newest entry is optimistic about it's first season. Players may be hard to come by and the roster will be in flux all summer as Selective Service will most assuredly cut it into. For that reason the Monarchs ownership says not to expect any official roster news from the club until camp begins in August....Lonnie Mullins, the monster-sized center from Taft High School, has not finalized where he will play his college ball but says it won't be in-state. Local entry Queen City was never in the running for Mullins, who is considered one of the best high schooler cagers around among those currently in their junior year, but he also recently ruled out Central Ohio. Mullins has apparently narrowed his decision to three schools with Liberty College, St Blane and Carolina Poly still on the list....The Queen City cagers -also known as the Monarchs- did land a pretty decent local kid to head their freshman class next September. Daniel Reel is a guard out of Lees Creek and may compete for starting minutes as a freshman with Del Fusco (7.4 ppg) lost to graduation along with team scoring leader Robet Hogg (9.2 ppg). Both Fusco and Hogg are now in the process of joining the Army Air Corps....The Central Ohio Aviators baseball club is hoping for big things from Charlie Leist this season. The 21 year old Chicago native went 10-5 for the Aviators a year ago and is likely to be selected in the June portion of the FABL draft. 
 NEW YORK AREA TEAMS TO FORM OWN CONFERENCE Fresh off the fallout from the Northeast Conference folding a new group of schools have announced they will compete in a new conference that will surely raise the profile of New York City basketball even higher. Brooklyn State and Garden State -the two colleges whose decision to abandon the Northeast Conference last month led to that sections demise- have announced they will be part of a new group of eight New York-area schools. Dubbed the Liberty Conference, the section will begin play next fall and it's champion will be granted an automatic berth in the year end National Tournament, claiming the spot that had previously gone to the Northeast Conference champion. Football will not be part of this structure but beginning in 1945 baseball, tennis and track teams from each of the member schools will also compete in the Liberty Conference. Joining the two former Northeast Conference powers in the new loop will be Bigsby College and Empire State -both of whom bolted from the Eastern Eight for the new alliance- along with four formerly independent schools. The Eastern Eight will continue to operate but will be rebranded as the Eastern Six. Code:
THE LIBERTY CONFERENCE
SCHOOL LOCATION
Bigsby College Gents New York, NY
Bronx Tech Flying Dutchmen Bronx, NY
Brooklyn Catholic Bulldogs Brooklyn Heights, NY
Brooklyn State Bears Brooklyn, NY
Empire State Centurions Brookville, NY
Garden State Redbirds Newark, NJ
Jersey City Tech Wizards Jersey City, NJ
Manhattan Tech Colonials New York, NY
Brooklyn State, with 3 National Titles since 1931-32, and Garden State, which one the 1938-39 AIAA championship tournament, will be the powers of the new loop but Brooklyn Catholic, Jersey City Tech and Bronx Tech also are expected to have solid teams. *** CLEAVER LEAVES MINNESOTA TECH FOR GARDEN STATE *** The Redbirds made noise this week with news they had lured Pid Cleaver away from Minnesota Tech. Cleaver, who was named AIAA National Coach of the Year each of the past two seasons, takes over for Norman Ward who announced his retirement at the end of the season. The 59 year old Cleaver spent just the two seasons with the Lakers, with short stays seemingly his custom of late. His first head coaching job was at South Valley State in 1914 and he spent 11 seasons there before moving to Henry Hudson for a 7 year stretch. Fired after a 4-10 Academia Alliance record for the Exploers in 1931-32, Cleaver spent time as an assistant at Detroit City College before becoming the head man at Lambert College in 1938. After three seasons he bolted the Stags for Minnesota Tech. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 4/30/1944
__________________
Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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10-18-2022, 01:25 PM
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#543 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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May 8, 1944
MAY 8, 1944 WINDY CITY BLOWS HOT As the 1944 FABL season swings into full gear there is plenty to love for baseball fans in Chicago. The Cougars have won 12 of their last 13 games and are enjoying a 3.5 game lead on second place Cincinnati in the Continental Association. That comes as no surprise but what is unexpected is the Chicago Chiefs are just percentage points out of the lead in the Federal Association. Many pegged the Chiefs as a second division club this time around, but thanks to Rabbit Day's resurgence and the usual strong play from Ron Rattigan the Chiefs have won 14 of their last 17 games and are fast on the heels of the Philadelphia Keystones for the Fed lead. The Cougars seem to have everything clicking. Their offense, considered the best in the CA, has lived up to its billing and their 109 runs scored are tops in either association. Leo Mitchell (.486,1,14) leads the loop in batting average while Cliff Moss (.333,4,13) -who recently celebrated his 2,000 career big league hit- Hank Barnett (.329,2,14) and Harry Mead (.309,0,5) head that powerful offense that has only centerfielder Orlin Yates (.163,0,6) struggling. The Cougars pitching has been nearly as overpowering, which is really saying something since Pete Papenfus, the Jones brothers and Joe Brown are all aiding the war effort. Harry Parker (4-0, 1.59) has been nothing short of outstanding in his return from a serious elbow injury that cost the 29 year old much of last season. Then there is Art White (4-0, 2.00) -the former Brooklyn King- along with vets Mike Murphy (2-0, 2.22) and Dick Lyons (1-2, 1.69). Across the city the big story is the revival of Rabbit Day. The 40-year old 3-time Allan Award winner is off to a 4-0 start with a 1.99 era that is less than half of the number he posted in that category a year ago while struggling through a 7-11 season -the lowest win total for a campaign in a career that has now seen Day post 307 of them while losing 201. Day, who tossed 6 and two-third shutout innings yesterday in a 5-0 win over the New York Gothams, is now just 4 wins shy of tying Hall of Famer George Johnson for 10th all-time in that category. It is not just Day that is propping up a Chicago staff that was hit hard by enlistment and Selective Service over the winter. Only the Keystones have surrendered less runs so far this season than Day and teammates like Les Zoller (3-1, 2.67), Red Hampton (2-1, 2.38) and Bob Cummings (3.21, 4sv), who after starting for 8 years in Brooklyn has found success working out of the pen in Chicago. Power had not been the Chiefs way to score runs since the glory days of Joe Masters and Jim Hampton in the late 1920's but Chicago is swatting more balls out of Whitney Park than any other team in either association is hitting. Last season the Chiefs hit just 60 homeruns in 154 games. This year they have played just 20 contests but already have 17 round-trippers as Tom Bird (.291,5,15), Ron Rattigan (.458,4,17) and Al Wheeler (.228,4,16) lead the way. Wheeler, much like Day, struggled mightily last season and is certainly not the hitter he was when he won his 5 Whitney Awards but the 36 year old is hitting longballs and now has 444 for his career so perhaps passing Rankin Kellogg's 475 for second all-time behind only the legendary Max Morris, who hit 711, is still in the cards. There was a hope a few years ago that we might see the first All-Chicago World Championship Series but that never came to pass. It is far too early to think about that this season, and the Philadelphia Keystones along with several others may have something to say about that notion, but in the Windy City dreams of that elusive Chiefs-Cougars matchup in October -which so far has been restricted to their annual year-end charity tournament- are alive and well at the moment.  Manager Billy Boshart, desperate for a win went with Ed Wood and Dean Astle in relief to try and steal game one from the Keystones but the Minutemen couldn’t crack the Red Ross/Gene White duo and lost the first game at Broad Street Park 3-2. The offense put together the best performance of the week to that point in game two with long balls from Bill Van Ness and Art Spencer, combined with doubles from Spencer and Bill Moore. That was more than enough offense for Walt Wells to pick up his fourth win of the season by the score of 6-2. Intrigued by his start a week ago the Minutemen decided to give Butch Campbell another start in the first game of the double-header to finish off the series. Campbell pitched well enough (7.1 innings/2 earned runs) but the offense needed to save a few hits from the game before, as they only produced five singles and couldn’t lay off Pat Williams three pitch mix striking out nine times. Williams also had five walks in the game so this may be the definition of “effectively wild”. In the final game of the day the Boston offense was able to get at Philadelphia starter Pepper Tuttle with a couple of long balls but once again Paul Richardson couldn’t provide any usable support and took the loss dropping his record to 0-4 on the season. With the loss the Minutemen now sit at 7-14 on the season 8.5 games back in the Association. Billy Boshart’s boys have two days off to figure out how they are going to turn things around before they host both Detroit and New York. Although the pitching is not the issue Ol’ Doc has heard through his sources that Butch Campbell is going to swap spots with Paul Richardson in the Boston rotation. As for the offense Ol’ Doc is clueless as to how to fix that problem and is more than happy to let Mr. Boshart to figure that one out. Currently, the Minutemen rank between sixth and eighth in every single offensive category. Collectively as a team the offense is really bad with no help in sight at the lower levels. Maybe Billy should try negotiating with the Axis powers to expedite a surrender as Ol’ Doc sees that as the only possible way to help this lineup as it currently stands.
 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/07/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
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10-19-2022, 01:42 PM
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#544 |
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All Star Reserve
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May 15, 1944
MAY 15, 1944 FROM A DREAM TO A NIGHTMARE Dreadful Start Continues for Pioneers 1944 was supposed to be all about the St Louis Pioneers. The club, coming off a 36-22 close to the 1943 campaign in which they had their best finish since 1935 and sparked visions of the squad's first pennant in 22 years, was primed for a big start and a strong 1944. But that dream finish to last season has turned into a nightmare start to 1944 that sees the Pioneers, at 6-20, with the worst record in baseball. So what went wrong? It has been mentioned that some felt the Pioneers erred by being overly cautious with their veteran players and did not give them enough action to shake off the winter rust letting fear of an injury in a meaningless game be the driving force instead of fully preparing to start this season. The Pioneers won just 2 of their first 11 games. Would they have had a strong start had players like Tommy Wilson (hit just .200 in April), Gail Gifford and Al Tucker played more than 5 spring contests each. What about the pitchers? Sam Sheppard, Joe Shaffner and Buddy Long each made just 1 spring appearance and combined to go 1-6 during that opening 11 game stretch. The rust might have been a factor but the main cause may well have been the war effort. Other teams were hit as hard as the Pioneers -who lost catcher Heinie Zimmer, first baseman Dutch Breunig and second sacker Artie D'Alessandro to the armed forces over the winter- but did the Pioneers gamble incorrectly in assuming that rookies Ed Tracy, Jim Koch and second year man Bill Becker were up for the jobs of filling in for the lost three instead of trading some of baseball's deepest farm system to plug holes for the current campaign? The other concern beyond the 3 losses to the war effort is the shortstop position and its effect on the overall team defense. A year ago Ivan Cameron was the shortstop which allowed Tommy Wilson to play his typical all-star defense at third base. Cameron was not much of a hitter -batting just .237 a year ago- or a dominant fielder but his glove was close to average big league level. This season the Pioneers demoted Cameron to AAA and gave the job to Homer Mills. The former 6th overall draft pick is just 22 but had showed some promise as a defender in the minors last year. Mills was awful to start the season, both at the plate and in the field, and now has been swapped with Wilson and is playing third. Early indications are Mills is looking fine in the field at the hot corner and perhaps with less worry on defense he relaxed at the plate, going 6-for-18 last week but even with that spurt Mills is still batting just .215 on the year. Meanwhile, Wilson goes from being the best defensive third baseman in the league to an average at best shortstop...and his bat is in a year long slumber hitting just .177 with a .245 on-base percentage. Wilson went 7-for-12 in spring play but again the question must be raised - Did getting just 12 spring at bats set Wilson, and so many other Pioneers- up for early failure this season? Only Boston and the Chicago Chiefs scored more runs than the Pioneers did last season but this year only Washington -which has taken the same type of tumble after a strong 1943 that St Louis is on- have scored less often and there is such a disparity in production between St Louis and the top clubs in the Fed this year. The Pioneers have 71 runs through 26 games. In the same number of games the Chicago Chiefs have plated nearly twice as many -scoring 139 times with Pittsburgh, at 121, and Philadelphia, with 116 but in two less games- also dwarfing the Pioneers production.  Duke Hendricks took the mound in the first game after pitching really well in a 1-0 loss. This time Hendricks would be awarded the victory with a 12 strikeout performance. That would mark 22 strikeouts in his last two starts combined. Hendricks would finish the week tied with Ed Bowman for the FA lead in strikeouts but Duke does hold the edge in K/9 averaging 9.8 a contest. It wasn’t all roses for Henricks however, as he did allow two home runs which accounted for all three Gothams runs in the 6-3 win. Going back to last week this would mark the fifth game in a row where Art Spencer would provide an extra base hit. Spencer’s first inning double with two runners was a big part of Boston’s six run opening frame. Art Spencer’s extra base hit streak would come to an end in the first game of the double header on Sunday but Lew McClendon provided a two run shot and Henry Warren added an RBI to give Butch Campbell just enough run support to earn his second victory on the year. Tom Martin picked up his 4th save and has allowed one earned run in his 10.2 innings of work on the season. The victory would be the fifth in a row for Boston but it would end there as Dean Astle was hit around in the second game of the doubleheader. Astle would give up five earned and Lew McClendon would tweak his hamstring while stretching out a double in the sixth. It looks like Lew will be day-to-today for about a week. McClendon will probably miss the entire St. Louis series which is set to start Tuesday in Boston. He could be back for the Chicago series which follows on Friday. Bud Gustafson will more than likely be the replacement for McClendon. A 5-1 week certainly helped Boston get closer to even but Ol’ Doc is wondering if it is sustainable. Looking closely at the numbers the Minutemen were actually outhit in the Detroit series and had to really rely on solid pitching performances to get them through. Of course, it is really nice to have a starting staff that keeps a club in games every day but at some point the offense simply has to do more. Boston currently sits at 12-15 on the season and only made up a single game in the standings. Ol’ Doc has been around the club a long time and really can’t envision a scenario where the front office starts selling off their best players. That strategy is popular in other places but it has never really been the approach in Boston. Ol’ Doc wouldn’t be surprised if Boston actually tries to add players to help the beleaguered offense. Still, it is mid-May and the team did win five out of six on the week so all talk of buying and selling may be a bit premature. Ol’ Doc understands it is a win now business but sometimes you have to see a team perform for more than four weeks to get a true gauge on what they can or cannot do. OSA MIGHT DISAGREE BUT CANNONS FUTURE IS SOUND The league scouting service feels the Cincinnati Cannons prospect cupboard, aside from long-time top ten outfielder and Navy man Dick Blaszak, is empty. On the surface that assessment seems to be a fair one as the Cannons moved an awful lot of young talent and amateur draft picks over the past few years to acquire the likes of Adam Mullins, Billy Dalton, Sam Brown, Chuck Adams, Chris Clarke and Jack Cleaves. Four years ago the Cannons were coming off a very successful debut season in the Queen City after a decade of futility in Baltimore. They finished just 4 games behind the pennant winning Toronto Wolves and featured a solid young team with what was considered the second best minor league system in FABL. In all, the Cannons had ten of the OSA's top 100 prospects at the time. Flash forward to today and the prospect cupboard is nearly bare, with only Dick Blaszak ranking in the top 100 and he has spent the past year and a half in the Navy.  I will agree with OSA that much of the youth is gone but disagree with the Chicken Little's running around saying the sky is about to cave in on the Cannons. Yes, the top 100 prospect well is all but dried up but that does not mean a victory drought is in the Cannons future outlook. Far from it, in this writer's opinion. The top two prospects on that 1940 list -Blaszak and pitcher Bill Sohl- are both in the Navy and should be back some time in the next 2 or 3 years. Let's assume the war ends next year, and there are a lot of positive indicators to say it might even be sooner. What would your 1946 Cincinnati Cannons look like? Here is how we see the pitching staff two years from now assuming all is settled in Europe and the Pacific. Code:
1946 Cannons Staff 1946 age SP Deuce Barrell 28 SP Bill Sohl 27 SP Vic Carroll 27 SP Charlie Griffith 27 SP Chris Clarke 33 SP Butch Smith 34 RP Jim Anderson 30 RP Dan Adams 31 The lineup gets Adam Mullins, Charley McCullough and Fred Galloway back from the war plus Blaszak is likely ready to be a big league regular and even if he isn't the Denny Andrews shift to the outfield appears to be working or Sam Brown may still be an above average hitter even at age 35. The Cannons of 1946 would not be young but nearly every position has a guy in the middle to tail end of his prime so there are several years to try and build up the system depth. Here is a snapshot of the 1946 Cannons line-up of everyday players: Code:
1946 Cannons Lineup 1946-age C Adam Mullins 33 1B Chuck Adams 29 2B Charley McCullough 30 SS Jim Hensley 29 3B Billy Dalton 32 LF Bob Griffith 29 CF Fred Galloway 30 RF Dick Blaszak 24 Bench C Ed Haynes Jr. 21 INF Jack Cleaves 38 INF Charlie Rivera 32 OF Sam Brown 35 OF Denny Andrews 30 OF Dutch Peters 25 The Chicago Cougars remain the biggest hurdle to overcome if the Cannons are going to win another pennant and that will likely be the case for the next several years. Some might point to the fact that some of Chicago's key bats like Dick Walker, Cliff Moss and Hank Barnett are starting to age but the Cougars pitching staff might just be unbeatable once they get Pete Papenfus, the Jones brothers and others back from the war effort. The Toronto Wolves have proven to be a thorn in the Cannons side on more than one occassion and the Philadelphia Sailors also seem to be headed in the right direction. Each of those two squads have some good young pitchers on the way up. The New York Stars will also once again be handful when the war is over and Bill Barrett and Joe Angevine lead the parade of war veterans returning to the Big Apple club. Those four teams promise to be a challenge for the Cannons over the next several years. Then you have the Montreal Saints and Cleveland Foresters, each with a nice collection of young talent in the system but both struggling at the moment. The Saints system has been highly thought of in recent years -and it was given a boost by the prospects Cincinnati provided to lure Adam Mullins to the Queen City- but the Saints have lacked consistency and direction for close to a quarter century and the Foresters dug themselves such a hole a few years ago it might be 1950 before they fully recover. That leaves a Brooklyn team that was one of the best in baseball but that was going on a decade ago and the Kings feel rudderless at times of late. In summary, things are not bleak for the Cannons despite the lack of young talent. I am not sure if there are more pennants in store over the rest of the decade but the club looks like a consistent first division team for many years. Over-HERRd --The battle that had been waging between Queen City University and Cincinnati's new American Football Association entry over the use of the nickname "Monarchs" is close to being settled. The school has long been known by that moniker, well before the new guys on the block in the form of the AFA's 10th franchise -which is set to begin play in September- came on the scene. They had a flashy press conference downtown and introduced a number of key contributors who were instrumental in landing the expansion club before capping the celebration with a look at the new logo. You can imagine it caught the sports director and everyone else at Queen City University by surprise. There were a few comments each way, including the pros saying if the New York Stars and Brooklyn Kings can share a football name with their FABL counterparts, then surely Queen City should be honoured to have the same nickname as the new grid eleven. Needless to say they weren't, but after some tongue-wagging on both sides it sounds like a solution has been agreed on that will see the footballers adopt a new nickname....From what I hear Adam Mullins is playing better than ever and has learned a lot, even at age 31 and with a Whitney Award on his resume, from his coach at the Great Lakes Naval Academy ball team. That coach would be none other than Lt. T.R. Goins, former FABL star receiver and one day likely a Hall of Famer. They apparently bonded talking about catching -of course- but also the city of Cincinnati, where Goins as old timers will recall was once a star high school ballplayer before being selected first overall by the Washington Eagles in the 1919 FABL rookie draft.
KINGS FARMHAND FANS 20 For the first time in the Southeastern League and only the second time in professional baseball (excluding the 1905-08 wonky years) a pitcher has fanned 20 in a single game. Tommy Hendley, a 23 year old undrafted free agent who never played college or high school ball, made history last week when, while pitching for the Tampa Cigar Kings, he struck out 20 Charlotte Bluebirds hitters in a 5-4 win for the Cigar Kings Tuesday. Hendley did have the benefit of pitching 13 innings as he went the distance in the win. The major league record for strikeouts in a game is 18, a mark set by a Brooklyn Kings pitcher named Jim Cannon way back in 1878. Since 1912 when the Chicago Cougars Tom Guarneri fanned 15, no FABL pitcher has ever struck out even that many in a game. Guarneri, who would fan 1,780 in just under 2,100 career big league innings, would also fan 14 in a game 4 times. The closest a modern big league pitcher has come to twenty k's is 13, which in recent years has been accomplished by Ed Bowman, Harry Carter, Lefty Allen and Pete Papenfus. The only other minor leaguer -outside the 1905-08 window when it was commonplace- to ever fan 20 was George Kelly of Everett in the C-O-W League in 1932. Kelly, who was 9th round pick of Washington the previous December, went 13-5 with 191 strikeuts at the Class C level as a 19 year old that season but he never advanced past AA before retiring in 1938. Seven times a college pitcher in the old feeder era fanned 20 including big leaguers Tom Barrell, who had 21 k's for Georgia Baptist in 1929 and Charlie Bingham, who struck out 20 for Opelika State that same season.    The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/14/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
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10-20-2022, 01:28 PM
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#545 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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May 22, 1944
May 22, 1944 WOLVES ON THE PROWL The Toronto Wolves are suddenly the hottest team in FABL as the Canadian club strung together a 9-game winning streak to leapfrog both Philadelphia and Cincinnati and climb into second place in the Continental Association. Even though the stretch of victories came at the expense of the bottom three teams in the CA it was a welcome respite for a Toronto team that was licking it's wounds a little over a week ago after dropping 4 straight, including 3 in a row to the first place Chicago Cougars. The Cougars had a rough week, by their standards anyway, as Chicago went just 5-3 but it included dropping both ends of a Sunday twinbill in Cleveland to a surprising Foresters side that is just a game under the breakeven mark. Each loss Sunday was by a single run -as was the Cougars other defeat earlier in the week to Philadelphia - after Chicago had entered the week 8-1 in games decided by just a single run. Toronto is now just 4.5 games off the Cougars trend setting pace, with an important 3-game set between the two coming up this week in the Windy City. That series in Chicago may well contain most of the Continental Association side for the July all-star game as each club has plenty of players enjoying big seasons. The Wolves strength so far has been their pitching led by Bernie Johnson (4-2, 1.60) and Bob Walls (4-1, 2.63) but one must not overlook the resurgence Chink Stickels (.317,3,13) and Charlie Artuso (.327,2,14) are enjoying this season after subpar campaigns from each a year ago. While most of the talk about Chicago focuses on the Cougars high-powered offense -led by Leo Mitchell (.427,3,29), Hank Barnett (.341,6,25) and Cliff Moss (.301,6,21)- the Chicago pitching has been nothing short of dominant with Harry Parker (5-1, 2.15), Art White (5-0, 2.52) and Detroit cast-off Mike Murphy (3-0, 2.04) leading the way. Meanwhile, the Sailors (4-6 in their last 10) and Cannons (5-8 of late and riddled with injury) are both heading the wrong direction. *** RABBIT IS HAVING HIS DAY *** The Chicago Chiefs hit a bit of a snag in Boston over the weekend, getting swept in a 4-game set by the up and down Minutemen - who themselves were swept by St Louis to start the week but possibly the best story of the year continues to play out like a fairy tale in the Windy City. 40 year old Rabbit Day -perhaps the greatest pitcher of his generation but also one who appeared like his time was done a year ago- is now 6-0 with a 2.13 era and perhaps it's not too early to discuss a 4th Allen Award for the legendary righthander. Quite a turnaround for the 309 career game winner who went just 7-11, 4.36 a year ago and sparked talk that he might retire over the winter. The Keystones remain in second place in the Federal Association, just a game back of Chicago despite a rough week that saw them drop 3 of 4 at home to the Chiefs before splitting a 4-game set with St Louis. The Pioneers were the hottest Fed club this week, taking 6 of 8 contests after being the subject of last week's cover story for their disappointing start. It is a long ways to go to crawl back into the Fed race but the Pioneers 6 wins in the past 7 days doubled their victory total for the season.  STARS SAY THEY 'KANT' STAY WITH CURRENT MANAGER Breaking news out of New York indicates the Stars will be firing their manager Jerry Kant today and replacing him with bench coach Ken Tannen. The 60 year old Kant had a short and very unproductive stint at the helm of the Big Apple club. He took over last year, inheriting a pennant-winning team from the very successful but also very controversial Otto Schmidt. In Kant's first season last year, the Stars fell from a 103 win season the previous year to a 68-86 season under Kant. Of course, one must remember the new skipper took over just as Bill Barrett and Joe Angevine had announced they were joining the war effort. This season has been more struggling for the Stars, who are 12-20 and sitting in the Continental Association cellar. One has to wonder if this was the final big league opportunity for the 60 year old Kant, who previously managed the Washington Eagles for five seasons including a pennant winning club in 1925 -one which lost the series to the Stars that year. Kant, who has a nearly even record as a big league skipper at 477-479, also managed for 7 seasons with Syracuse of the Union League. Chicago came into town with a 22-8 record looking like one of the Chiefs teams from ‘36 or ‘38 when they ran roughshod through the FA. To make matters worse the Chiefs just took three out of four from Philadelphia before coming into town. Game one featured a matchup between Red Hampton and Butch Campbell. Boston fans were especially interested to see how Campbell fared against a quality opponent. Campbell held up pretty well going 7.2 innings giving up five hits and two unearned runs. He wouldn’t factor into the decision because the game would go 13 innings when Art Spencer would record his first hit in dramatic fashion with a game winning single scoring Chick Donnelly. Clarence Linden would pitch three scoreless innings to earn the victory and snap the four game skid. Game two was another one run affair but with plenty more offense to go around. Starters Dean Astle for Boston and Les Zoller for Chicago both gave up four earned and neither would factor into the decision. The Minutemen were actually held scoreless until the bottom of the 7th when they plated four runs to tie the game. Chicago would repay the favor by scoring four of their own in the top of the eighth thanks in large part to a three run blast from Al Wheeler which was his second of the game. Boston would answer with two in the bottom half of the eighth and would ask Clarence Linden to keep the Chiefs off the board for the second game in a row. Linden did his job and the Boston offense did theirs as they plated three in the bottom of the 9th for their second walk-off win in as many games. Chick Donnelly started the scoring with a one out home run and Bob Donoghue provided his first hit of the season as he pinch hit for Bob Artesan knocking in both Art Spencer and Lew McClendon for the 9-8 win. Ed Wood would provide a better outing in game three which was the first game of a doubleheader to finish the series. Wood would go all nine giving up two earned and hitting a solo homer of his own in the fifth. Art Spencer and Bill Moore would each add doubles and the Minutemen easily beat the Chiefs 8-3. In the final game of the day the Minutemen leaned on Walt Wells who bounced back in a big way to four hit the Chiefs lineup and outlast Chief’s starter Jim Douglas for a 2-1 win. Joe Watson’s third home run of the year accounted for all of the Boston scoring. As Ol’ Doc has said and written many times before baseball is a strange game. You just really never know what is going to happen. If anyone would have told me that the Minutemen would sweep a series and get swept this week Ol’ Doc and every person that pays attention to the FABL would have had the results reversed. However, the baseball Gods do not work that way. Nope, They like to keep the intrigue going and have a team that is supposed to lose on the road pull out a sweep and then have that same swept team turn around and beat one of the best teams in baseball in three one run games. It’s complete madness Ol’ Doc tells ya but it is also the reason why we watch and love the game. We are now entering into the latter half of May and the Minutemen still sit under .500 for the season. Furthermore, even though it was a 4-4 week beating the top dogs four times actually allowed Boston to gain a game in the standings. At this rate they will be back in first place in seven weeks, right around Independence Day. Of course Ol’ Doc is only semi-serious with that proclamation; it is how you have to look at things as a Boston fan right now.  Highlights: A record of 19-13 is good enough for second place in CA, 4 1/2 games behind the obvious class of the CA, Chicago Cougars. The first part of 1944 can be described in one word, streaks, for the Wolves. Toronto is currently on a nine game winning streak coming off a five game losing streak, the team is either red hot or ice cold. Toronto is being led again by their strong pitching, the staff ERA leads the entire FABL, albeit marginally, at 2.91,narrowly edging out the Cougars' staff. Manager Call has been quick to hook his SP at any signs of losing effectiveness or even the hint of being out of gas. When ask about his liberal use of the bullpen Call has said "Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, look at our upcoming schedule with all the twin-bills. I do not want our starters to be worn out before the weather warms and the games start piling up through the summer. To use a war analogy I do not want to spend all our bullets early." Toronto is dead last in complete games with one but leads the league in games saved by the 'pen with 13, almost double the nearest league competitor. The starters are being led by veterans Johnson and Walls. Call seems to be lengthening the leash on his starters hopefully this will lead to a more traditional pitching balance going forward, Chick Wirtz finally won his first game of the season last week. Fans can only hope Wirtz can continue to provide effect starts over the summer. Roscoe Zeller has proved a good addition in his two-way role giving the rest of the bullpen needed rest periods as Call saves the starters. Offensively the Wolves are near middle of the pack in most categories, the highlight being the return of Charlie Artuso's bat .327/.409/.464 after a lack luster 1943. Chink Stickels has also provided much need pop to a lineup that at times has trouble scoring runs. Concerns: For team that relies on pitching and defense to win games the fielding performance of the Wolves needs to improve over the balance of the season. Although the overall defense is not horrible thirty-two miscues, including nine by usually reliable gloveman Hal Wood, four by Pomales, three by Stickels are giving the opposition far too many extra outs. It is thought that Pomales lack of success at the plate is leading to some of his defensive woes, .248/.314/.321 is far below what he is capable of providing the team. This coupled with Pack's slow start, .267/.279/.356, has left the team wanting in the middle of the batting order. The battle for the starting RF job between Westfall, Hull has been more of a bust than a boom. Both have had a slow start although Hull's bat is showing signs of coming alive Call has been forced at times to insert either Marshall or Vestal into the starting lineup. The scuttlebutt around the clubhouse is that Call will give Vestal a chance to prove himself against LHP until the end of May. After that time a decision may have to made on his future because carrying five outfielders limits options for the lineup card. A turnaround of Gibbs to last season's form would be a big boost. Jim Laurita rookie season has been a struggle in April and May. Both pitchers are issuing for too many free passes in the first two months. Outlook: If Toronto can improve their fielding and a few bats wakeup, the Wolves could stay close to the Cougars but this will be a tall task. Fan support would help at Dominion Stadium, fans have been staying away in droves, understandable with the requirements of the war effort from the civilian population but a short break from the daily grind would probably help both the fan and the team. This is indeed feeling an awful lot like it is 1941, not 1944, at least for the Cannons. They entered the '41 campaign with pennant dreams after an outstanding run in their debut year in the Queen City. The team had plenty of talent but hopes were dashed early when a rash of injuries -that included Deuce- dropped the team to 4th place in a year dominated by the Chicago Cougars. That '41 team had it's pitching staff decimated in just a matter of a few weeks when Deuce, Bill Sohl and Vic Carroll all went down for extended stretches. Does that sound like this year? Deuce is out for the year and, while the rest of the pitching staff has remained healthy -at least so far- it is the outfield that has been pounded by injuries and the club currently sits in 4th place...in a Continental Association dominated once more by the Chicago Cougars. At least fans can take solace in the fact that the 1943 run resulted in a World Championship, unlike 1940 when they fell just 2 games short. Over-Herrd --Cannons skipper Ad Doria is disappointed in the glove work from his club and sees the injury to Jack Cleaves as an opportunity to give Tony White another shot at second base. White is by far the better defender, but is hitting just .138 this season....Nice to see Tom Barrell have a successful week. He is nowhere near the dominant pitcher that won 3-straight Allen Awards with the Brooklyn Kings so it is the small victories we must rejoice in now and that includes 5 scoreless innings in 3 relief appearances last week. Barrell (0-1, 4.86) was brought in to provide veteran leadership and be the 9th option in a 9-man pitching staff, but the way things are going with both Larry Brown and Jake Smith struggling, Tom might just get the opportunity to pitch in some more important innings than merely mop-up work....Queen City University has confirmed it will once again not have a football team. The Monarchs grid squad was shut down last year because of a lack of players and they will not field a team until after the war is won. The Monarchs cagers, who went 17-12 this past season, will return for the 44-45 basketball campaign.
 40,000 SERVICEMEN TO WATCH WASPS' BALTIMORE TILTS FREE To usher in their return to the American Football Association after a 1 year hiatus, Washington Wasps owner Homer Bentley has announced that 20,000 servicemen will be admitted to the Wasps two pre-season games to be held in Baltimore next fall without cost. An announcement in Baltimore this week, Bentley, laid out plans for the two exhibition tilts and that 20,000 tickets for each game would be distributed to men in the Army's 3d Service Command. The opponents for the two contests have not been finalized but it is expected a Military All-Star team will provide the opposition for at least one of them. Bentley, a Baltimore native, reiterated that he was fully onboard with the notion of Baltimore receiving an AFA expansion team. He also vehemently denied the suggestion from a Baltimore scribe that perhaps these two preseason games were a 'feeling out' process to consider a move of the Wasps club from Washington to Maryland. "That is not the case at all," Bentley replied sternly. "I love Baltimore and want them to have a pro football team, but it won't be the Wasps. We are Washington's ballclub." It should be noted that the Washington eleven has played tune-up games in Baltimore in the past, often to avoid a conflict with FABL's Washington Eagles, who also play out of Columbia Stadium. The city of Baltimore was denied a 1944 entry at the winter meetings in which Cincinnati was accepted to help bring the loop up to 10 teams.  The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/21/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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10-21-2022, 02:13 PM
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#546 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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May 29, 1944
MAY 29, 1944 FED BATTLE AS WILD AS USUAL Nothing much has changed in the Federal Association. Despite the fact that many star players have left for the war effort the Fed remains as tight as ever with five teams within 5.5 games of top spot as the season reaches the quarter pole and little indication any one club will run away with the loop. The Chicago Chiefs looked to be poised to perhaps break things open after a strong road trip to start the month that included winning 3 of 4 games in Philadelphia. However, the Chiefs stumbled in the final stop of that trip -getting swept by Boston in a 4 game set- and their subpar play in New England followed them home to the Windy City, with Chicago dropping 8 of it's last 10. The result is the Chiefs, who dropped 3 of 4 at home to Philadelphia, now trail the front-running Keystones by a single game in a jam-packed top half of the Fed. The Pittsburgh Miners are also just a game off the pace after a 4-2 week despite the absence of the injured Mahlon Strong. Detroit, surprisingly, remains very much in the mix at 3 games back, after spending most of the weak beating up a disappointing Washington nine before splitting a Memorial Day doubleheader with the Miners. Boston is also closing in on the pack as the Minutemen, after a 7-12 start to the season, have won 13 of their last 20 and are just a game under the breakeven mark and 5.5 games behind the front-running Keystones. The story in the Continental Association is a little different but the Chicago Cougars, after losing 6 of their last 11 contests, have opened the door for both Toronto and Philadelphia. The Wolves, red-hot with wins in 13 of their last 15, are 4 games back after taking two of three at Cougars Park last week while the Sailors have had a nice run of their own, taking 8 of their last 10 games and sit 4.5 back of the first place Cougars.  After the Minutemen swept the Chiefs last week their GM went public about how unacceptable such a performance was and how he couldn’t wait for his club to have the opportunity to return the favor this week at Whitney Park. The first game of the series would be the customary Sunday double dip featuring Walt Wells from Boston and John Douglass for the Chiefs on the mound. Whether it was their GM’s comments resonating in their minds or simply the fact that Chicago is a top flight club the Chiefs took the field inspired and hammered Boston pitching for 14 hits. Walt Wells couldn’t get out of the sixth and Tom Martin would be even worse. Chiefs first sacker Ron Rattigan hit his 5th homer of the year in the 7-3 Chicago victory. Boston though would return the favor in the afternoon portion of the day with an 8 run, 16 hit attack of their own to give Duke Hendricks the win and Boston a split. Lew McClendon led the club with four hits and Bill Moore hit his fifth long ball of the year in the 8-1 win. The 4-2 week would allow the Minutemen to slowly creep back to the even mark at 20-21 on the season. Boston is 8-2 in their last ten games and is playing .555 ball for the month of May. The club is trending in the right direction as they shaved yet another game off of their deficit this week to sit 5.5 back from division leader Philadelphia. The road does not get any easier for Boston though as they need to finish what they started in Chicago before traveling to Detroit for three games in four days before finishing up the road swing in New York against the Gothams. So the injury portion is certainly covered but so is the bad luck on the scoresheet. The Cannons have a run differential of +20 on the season, surpassed only by Chicago (an amazing +65) and Toronto (+34). Despite that the Cannons, one of just 3 CA teams that have scored more runs than they have allowed, sit just 19-19 on the season. Meanwhile the Philadelphia Sailors, who's run differential is -3 or 23 runs worse than the Cannons, are 7 games over the .500 mark. We can look at 1-run and extra innings games as the cause for Cincinnati's woes. The Sailors are 8-4 in 1-run contests and 1-1 when free baseball is added to a game. The Cannons, after losing 3 extra inning 1-run games to Brooklyn and the Stars last week, are now just 1-4 in extra innings and 5-7 in 1-run games on the year. Is it just bad luck or is it the pitching out of the pen that is causing the trouble. Dan Adams lost 3 games in extra innings last week but in his previous 5 relief outings he did not surrender a hit or a run, and issued just 1 walk in those 6 innings of relief work. Last week he hurled the equivilant of 1 full inning in those 3 relief losses and allowed 6 hits while walking 2. Larry Brown, who has saved 54 games for the Cannons since they moved to Cincinnati, has pitched in 16 contests this year and looked pretty good in nearly all of them. However, he was shelled 3 times and it is no surprise the Cannons lost all three of those games. He is 35 years old and his ERA is a mess right now but it is hard to believe Brown has suddenly lost his ability to pitch in key situations since he has looked awfully good in most of his outings this year. Veteran Tom Barrell got beat up pretty badly in his first 3 relief outings with the Cannons but since then Barrell has allowed just 1 run in 13 and a third innings of work. It just feels like the Cannons are not getting the breaks, rather than having lost the ability to play winning baseball. Perhaps the absence of Adam Mullins to settle things down behind the plate is being felt even more than the loss of his Whitney Award winning bat from the line-up. Perhaps, the team defense, with Mullins gone along with Fred Galloway absent from the outfield and Charlie Rivera and his amazing glove now in the Navy instead of second base is the factor. Whatever it is, the Cannons better hope their luck changes soon or this could be a very long season at Tice Memorial Stadium. *** Cannons Playing Lil Possum *** Long-time scout and minor league catcher Rollie 'Possum' Daniels never got a shot at working for a big league club but his son Rufus is making the most of the chance he has been given in Cincinnati. Rufus -named after legendary scout and former Cannons Scouting Director Rufus Barrell- was claimed off waivers from Brooklyn over the winter. The 31 year old made his big league debut last season after a more than a decade riding the buses in the minor leagues. Daniels hit just .222 in 18 at bats for the Kings a year ago, but now with injuries to Denny Andrews and Sam Brown, he got a chance to start in Cincinnati last week. Daniels, a decent defensive outfielder who made the club out of spring camp primarily because he can give Bob Griffith the occasional off-day in center, is hitting .312 and had 3 extra base hits last week. A note in Denton Fox's column in the Pittsburgh Press a few days ago mentioned a Miners outfielder by the name of Lee Manchester getting his big league shot at age 31 due to opportunities only created by players leaving for the war. You can add Daniels to that list and he is making the most of his opportunity. The question is where will Daniels play. It is still a crowded Cincinnati outfield even with Denny Andrews sidelined long-term. Daniels and veteran Henry Jones - a waiver pickup from the Stars last month- were given a chance with Andrews and Sam Brown both sidelined. Brown is healthy again and will most assuredly be back in the lineup tomorrow in Montreal so the decision for manager Ad Doria is whether to use Daniels or Jones as the third outfielder. Jones made the choice very difficult with 3 homeruns and a .375 batting average but he is less mobile than a tank in leftfield. Daniels hit .286 with 3 extra-base hits last week and plays solid defense. It is quite likely the big park in Montreal will be the deciding factor as it could be a tough watch seeing Jones trying to navigate that vast terrain. While the Cannons are likely leaning towards defense in the outfield it seems like that will not be the case at second base. Jack Cleaves was banged up last week so Tony White was given another chance at second base. White, a natural shortstop, is certainly a better defender than Cleaves even with his limited exposure at second base, but he is batting just .146 including a miserable 3-for-19 showing last week. The choice, you would think, should be simple given that the 37 year old Cleaves is a .300 career hitter but it is not just his glove that has struggled this season as Cleaves is batting just .227. One can say it is early but when you add in the 52 games Cleaves played for Cincinnati last season in roughly half a season of baseball with the Cannons, Jack Cleaves is batting .237. One thing is for sure: The Cannons miss sailors Charlie Rivera and before that Charley McCullough at the Keystone base.
AROUND THE LEAGUE All-Star voting opens tomorrow in advance of the July 11th game to be held at Washington's Columbia Stadium. Being in the nations capital at a time when the much anticipated invasion of western Europe is quite likely underway promises to make this event a very special one. Jiggs McGee takes a look around FABL with a quick comment or two on who from each of the 16 clubs deserves serious consideration for All Star selection as the season hits the quarter pole. BOSTON- Veteran pitcher Walt Wells (6-2, 2.12) looks like a good bet and Dean Astle (3-4, 2.53) might make it as well. A long shot but if he keeps pitching like he has in May, rookie Butch Campbell (3-1, 1.12) will draw some interest as well. Art Spencer (.296,4,22) is the most likely of the position players but Chick Donnelly (.299,3,13) and Bill Moore (.297,5,12) are also possibilities. BROOKLYN- 23 year old Jim Kenny (6-4, 2.38) is enjoying a very strong sophomore campaign and veteran infielder Jake Shadoan (.305,0,10) might deserve consideration to make his first appearance in the mid-season classic since 1934. CHIEFS- He had a tough week but if I was picking the starting pitcher for the Federal Association right now it would have to be Rabbit Day (6-2, 3.11), both for what he has done this year but also in recognition of an amazing career. Red Hampton (5-1, 2.96) and Les Zoller (5-2, 3.10) should also get consideration and the top 4 hitters in the Chicago lineup all belong: Bob Martin (.290,0,14), Tom Bird (.303,7,22), Ron Rattigan (.401,5,33) and Al Wheeler (.261,7,30). COUGARS- It might be easier to list which of the Cougars regulars don't belong at the All-Star Game. Could be 4 or 5 pitchers deserving including Art White (7-0, 2.13), Harry Parker (5-2, 2.43) and Dick Lyons (3-3, 2.41) along with reliever Ben Curtin (4sv 1.03) plus much of their starting lineup including Hank Barnett (362,6,30), Leo Mitchell (.425,3,32), Cliff Moss (.268,6,21) and Harry Mead (.321,1,13) CINCINNATI- It has not been a great start for the Cannons but outfielders Bob Griffith (.353,3,23) and Sam Brown (.370,2,9) deserve consideration along with pitcher Butch Smith (5-3, 2.35) CLEVELAND- Johnny Slaney (6-1, 3.05) is off to the best start of his career. DETROIT- How about the start 26 year old Jimmy Long (8-4, 2.62) has had this season for the Dynamos! Jimmy Mayse (4-1, 1.87) is another possibility. Despite Detroit's success this year I am not sure if there is a position player on their roster who would be considered an all-star at this point. MONTREAL- It is all about the old guys in the Montreal outfield. Bernie Green (.356,0,11) and Vic Crawford (.346,4,32) are both 36 and enjoying great starts to the season. 31 year old Bill Ross (5-1, 3.88) is another possibility as is shortstop Jake Hughes (.324,0,22)-the baby of the bunch at age 28. NY STARS- Not a lot to like this season with the Stars but shortstop Steve Summers (.309,0,14) or reliever Rudy Fisher (1sv, 0.60) might get consideration. NY GOTHAMS- Ed Bowman (5-4, 2.73), Jim Lonardo (5-3, 3.15) and Red Johnson (.316,8,23) see pretty safe bets if they keep things going. KEYSTONES- Red Ross (5-2, 2.61), Jim Whiteley (5-2, 3.15) and Pepper Tuttle (4-2, 3.03) all stand a chance while Bobby Barrell (.323,9,33), Harry Shumate (.376,4,22) and possibly also Hank McKay (.316,2,18) locks as well. For Barrell it would be his 9th all-star game selection. SAILORS- Cast aside by both Cincinnati and the Gothams, Frank Covarrubias (.306,0,5) is off to a nice star for the Sailors. Look for Marion Boismenu (.382,2,21) and Joseph Mills (.308,5,21) to draw interest as well while reliever Hannibal Davis (6sv, 1.59) seems a strong bet to make the team. PITTSBURGH- Moxie Pidgeon (.331,4,22) is having a resurgence in Pittsburgh and there are a lot of Miners to consider. Johnny McDowell (.324,0,19), Luke Berry (.351,4,24), Whit Williams (.291,5,31), George Phillips (6-2, 3.38) and Karl Johnson (5-3, 2.70) are the most likely candidates. ST LOUIS- Sam Sheppard (2-6, 2.83) actually has a lower ERA than he did last season when he went 21-9 and made the all-star team. Veteran outfielder Al Tucker (.325,4,18) has been heating up of late. TORONTO- Joe Hancock may be gone but Bernie Johnson (6-2, 1.45), Bob Walls (5-1, 2.40) and even Jim Laurita (4-1, 4.22) are stepping up on the mound. Chink Stickels (.317,4,14) is back to playing like the outfielder the Wolves hoped he would be when they acquired him from the Stars last season. Second baseman Hal Wood (.325,2,12) has been quietly having a great start to his season and shortstop Charlie Artuso (.300,2,15) likely deserves to play in another all-star game. Shortstop depth in the Continental Association limited Artuso to just one appearance - that was back in 1940. WASHINGTON- Little has gone right in the nation's capital but infielders Mel Carrol (.345,0,8) and Sig Stofer (.235,7,20) stand a chance of representing the host team and so does second year outfielder Jesse Alvardo (.300,2,12). Keep an eye on pitcher Del Burns (3-4, 2.02) as well, but he probably needs his team to score him a few more runs to add sufficiently to his win total.  MONARCHS OUT AS CINCINNATI GRID NAME They have yet to play their first American Football Association game but the new Cincinnati franchise has already had a name change. The club, set to debut in September as the 10th AFA squad, was to be known as the Cincinnati Monarchs. The problem is the owners neglected to clear that with Queen City University, which also uses the 'Monarchs' as it's nickname. After a bit of back and forth bickering, some of it back and forth in the local paper, the pro grid eleven decided it best just to change it's name and as a result they will be known as the Cincinnati Tigers. There was likely little the Cincinnati university could do to bar the football club from using that name -as the AFA already has teams named the Brooklyn Kings and New York Stars and the baseball magnates do not seem to object. However, the Tigers ownership group felt it was important to have Queen City University and its alumni on board supporting the new franchise so they agreed to make the change. Word is Cincinnati's Winthrow High School, also known as the Tigers, has no plans to object to the AFA club's new name. Withrow, by the way, is where Cleveland Foresters 1942 5th round pick Gus Wehrman starred. *** GLA UNVEILS PLANS FOR '44 AND BEYOND *** It will be business as usual for the Great Lakes Alliance on the gridiron next season. One of the few sections not to face major disruptions due to wartime player shortages, the GLA unveiled it's 1944 and 1945 schedules. Minnesota Tech, with a 5-0 conference record, topped the loop last year before completing a perfect 10-0 slate with a 3-0 win over Travis College in the Desert Classic.The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/28/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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10-24-2022, 01:39 PM
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#547 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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June 5, 1944
JUNE 5, 1944 COUGARS RUNNING AWAY FROM PACK IN CONTINENTAL It looks like there is no stopping the Chicago Cougars and at this rate they might well have the Continental Association flag secured before the trade deadline. The Cougars are dominating their CA foes in every aspect of the game and, after 9 victories in their last 11 outings, are now 6 games ahead of the second place Toronto Wolves atop the CA table. How dominating are the Cougars this season? The are first in nearly every CA hitting or pitching category and lead all of FABL in runs scored (246) while surrendering the fewest (163) in either association. They have scored 83 more runs than they have surrendered - second place in the either association is the cross-town Chiefs at +49 at at 35-14 their .714 winning percentage -if it can be maintained- will be the highest total in Continental Association history and top their own mark of .706 established way back in 1892. Individually, the Cougars have the game's leading hitter this season in outfielder Leo Mitchell (.425,4,36) -who also tops the loop in rbi's, hits, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. They also have first baseman Dick Walker (.236,1,18), who is leading the CA in stolen base and with 62 already, is on a pace to destroy the FABL record for walks. Add in sluggers Hank Barnett (.328,6,30) and Cliff Moss (.275,6,24) and possibly the best defensive shortstop in the game in Skipper Schneider (.298,3,22) and there is plenty to like about the Cougars. And we haven't even touched on pitching. Entering the season the staff was the big concern in Chicago. How could it not be with Pete Papenfus and Donnie Jones already in the service and Joe Brown and Johnnie Jones -who combined to go 33-19 a year ago- joining them over the winter. Then there was concern about how Harry Parker would recover from a serious elbow injury that cost him half of last season. Parker (7-2, 1.97) has passed with flying colours and Art White (8-0, 2.01) -who was acquired from Brooklyn at the deadline last year- has been outstanding. Add in dependable veterans Dick Lyons (4-3, 2.30) and Mike Murphy (3-1, 2.55) -a winter acquisition from Detroit- along with reliever Ben Curtin (6 sv, 0.77) and it appears there is no stopping the Chicago Cougars. *** ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR BOBBY BARRELL *** While the Chicago Cougars seem to be in complete control of the Continental Association the Federal Association is proving to be as wild as ever. Famous over the past decade for some great multiple team runs -at least until the clubs typically separate somewhat in September- there are 5 teams within 3.5 games of the Fed lead. The Boston Minuemen struggled early but are now on a 14-5 run that has lifted the defending Fed champs back into contention. Boston has a huge week ahead with their entire menu this week consisting of 5 games against the front-running Philadelphia Keystones - all to be contested at Minutemen Stadium although the homeside is just 13-11 playing in New England this season. Losing 3 games over the weekend in Detroit put a damper on what was a special week for the Keystones as Bobby Barrell (.322,11,38), who is probably the best Keystones player of all-time not named Rankin or Zebulon, notched his 2,500th career hit on Friday in the Motor City. It was a third inning double to tie the game with the Dynamos at the time and came after Barrell launched his 354th career homer in the first inning of what would prove to be a 5-4 loss. Barrell is one of just 4 players in FABL history to get at least 2,500 hits and 350 homers, joining an elite class that includes former teammate Rankin Kellogg, Al Wheeler and the incomparable Max Morris. The Chicago Chiefs and Pittsburgh Miners both had rough weeks. The Chiefs went 5-4 in a busy week, which in itself was not too bad considering aside from Boston none of the Fed contenders had a big week, but the bad news was catcher Tom Bird (.308,8,23) -in the midst of his best season since leading the '38 club to a WCS win- will be out for a month with an oblique strain. Pittsburgh's bad injury news came a couple of weeks ago when slugger Mahlon Strong went down. Instead the bad news for the Miners was on the scoresheet as they ended the week with 5 straight losses and slipped to third after being in first place just prior to the slide. And don't forget about the Detroit Dynamos, who are still somehow hanging around at 3 games back after taking 3 of 4 at home from the Keystones. Yes, war or no war, the Federal Association can always be counted on to provide plenty of excitement.  Toronto looks to be in good shape for young players returning from the war. Toronto has five prospects rated in the top one hundred by the latest OSA scouting evaluations, P Jerry York (#3), SS John Fast (#5), P Jim Carter (#17), P Harry Phillips (#17), P Adam Grayson (#73) so it appears that one of the standard strengths in Toronto, pitching, should remain strong post-war. This brings another question that is common around all baseball offices, "How will the Commissioner's office deal with service time for players who abandoned their careers to serve their country?" Currently teams have 4 years for players drafted from college or 5 years for a high school player before they have to decide whether to put them on the 40-man protected roster, if they are not protected they become available for the Rule 5 draft. Will the FABL subtract war service years from baseball professional service time? No matter which way this decision goes it will further complicate an already chaotic situation for FABL teams. Teams probably already have front office personnel sorting through three to five year old scouting reports then putting reports into different piles depending on which way the service time decision falls from the Commissioner. Only one thing is a certainty in post-war organized baseball, IT WILL BE AN INTERESTING, TRYING TIME! One has to remember if and when this horror story of war ends baseball along with humanity will be better off, the only losers will be those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to stop the Axis powers. The final game of the series saw Butch Campbell take the ball against Red Hampton for the Chiefs. Campbell has enjoyed a great season to this point with one of his wins coming ten days prior against these same Chiefs. Regrettably for Campbell the Chiefs were ready for his three pitch mix and jumped on him five runs in five innings. Fortunately for Boston, Red Hampton was not any better as the Minutemen scored six runs on 12 hits against Red. Boston would score three runs in the eighth to actually grab the lead only to have Clarence Linden blow the save and send the game to extra innings. In the 13th Boston scored a pair in the top of the inning and looked good for the victory but Tom Martin could not do the job to close the game out as Frank Davis hit a walk-off grand slam for the Chiefs to win the game 11-8. Ever since Tom Martin picked up a spot start back on the 17th against St. Louis, he has been virtually ineffective since. With the tough end to the series Boston was off to Detroit for a doubleheader to start that series. Coming off a 13 inning affair the day before the last thing the Minutemen needed was another extra innings game on a doubleheader day. That, of course, is exactly what Boston got as Dean Astle and Fred Ratcliffe battled all afternoon with each surrendering three earned runs. Chick Donnelly would hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th and it would be Dick Higgins and not Tom Martin that would pitch the final two innings of the game for the win. In the second game of the series Boston went with Paul Richardson who would have one of his best pitching outings of the season going seven innings and allowing two earned runs. Pete Day and Joe Watson each provided three hits each in the 6-3 win. For the third day in a row the minutemen would find themselves locked in an extra inning affair. Ed Wood had a rough outing giving up six earned over seven innings. Thankfully the offense was able to get to Dynamos starter Jimmy Mayse and after nine innings the game was tied. Both teams scored runs in the 10th and the game and for the second time this week Boston would lose an extra inning game on a walk-off grand slam. In the final game of the series Walt Wells picked up win number seven and the Minutemen were able to finish off a team in regulation thanks in part to three hits for Pete day in a 5-4 victory. After taking three out of four from Detroit the Minutemen were off to the Big Apple to take on the Gothams for the conclusion of their two week road trip. Joe Watson hit a three run homer in the first inning and the Minutemen would use that four-run first to hold on for a 4-3 win in the first game of the series against the Gothams. Duke Hendricks struck out five hitters but also walked five to pick up his third win of the season. Tom Martin pitched a clean ninth inning to earn the save. Butch Campbell had a great bounce back game in game two of the series but New York starter Jim Baggett was just a bit better and the Gothams were able to even the series with a 3-2 win. The final game of the series would be a Sunday doubleheader with Dean Astle taking on Jim Lonardo in the first game of the day. Astle scattered nine hits and out-pitched Lonardo to a 3-1 win. Chick Donnelly and Jim Watson would each have two hits in that one. In the final game of the day the Boston offense would pepper Ernie Wise for eight earned on nine hits. One of the biggest came from Boston Starter Ed Wood, who hit a fifth inning homer to help his own cause. Boston will now get a couple days off before they take on Philadelphia at home for a five game series. It was a 6-3 week for the Minutemen who finally have a winning record on the season at 26-24. The club finished the month of May with a 17-14 record and have won four out of five to start June. The offense is finding its footing after a rough start and now ranked 3rd in the league in runs scored. As we sit here on June 5th the Minutemen sit 3.5 games out of first with a gigantic series against the Keystones on the schedule. This is a golden opportunity for Boston to get right back into the race or it could be a series that send the boys into a tailspin in the wrong direction. Give Cleveland credit. They are a surprisingly good ballclub this season led by 35 year old infielder Brooks Meeks, who spent a little time with the Steamers way back in 1931 and is enjoying perhaps the best season of his 14 year FABL career, and 28 year old Johnny Slaney, who is 6-2 after entering the season with a 5-30 career FABL mark. Steamers fans will remember that name as well since Slaney went 12-3 for the 1938 Steamers before his arm blew up in August of that season and he did not pitch again for over a year. Somehow, Meeks and Slaney and an impressive rookie shortstop named Jim Adams Jr. -son of the former Keystones and Wolves infielder by the same name and a first overall pick a year ago- have the Foresters as the only club with a winning record against the mighty Chicago Cougars. The Cannons, meanwhile, are a dismal 2-6 vs the Chicago side and while their struggles have certainly been laughed at by Lady Luck this year, should be much better than the records indicate. Consider the Cannons have scored 15 more runs than they have surrendered this year, yet set four games below the breakeven point. Only the aforementioned Cougars and Toronto have a higher run differential than the Cannons, and in fact those are the only three teams in the loop with a positive split. Cleveland, for example is -20 so the Cannons have nearly a full run a game better differential than the Foresters yet sit percentage points behind them and fifth in the CA. Philadelphia is -16, again far worse than the Cannons +15 run differential, but the Sailors are a full 4 games ahead of the Cannons in the standings. Cincinnati is not a first place club. Make no mistake about that. Fans in Toronto might take exception but the reality is barring an incredible rash of injuries or Selective Service swooping in and taking half their starters, the Cougars are going to win the Continental Association pennant. And quite likely by a wide margin. The Cannons should not be a fifth place ballclub, however. Even that old Greek guy with the fancy math concurs the Cincinnati nine are far better than the table indicates. The Pythagorean record says the Cannons should be 25-21: so a full 4 games better than they are at this point. No other club in either association has underperformed expectations by such a wide margin. And the Sailors at +4 according to the same measurement. In a sane world the Cannons should be pushing the Toronto Wolves for second place. Why are the Cannons firing blanks? For starters they can't win in extra-innings and are struggling in one run games. They are below .500 at home (11-12) and can't win on the road (10-13). The issue quipped Cannons boss Ad Doria is "we can't find anywhere else to play." *** WAS LAST YEAR THE ABBERATION *** Doria looked like a genius a year ago when everything went right. But three years ago in 1941 it was much the same as this season. At the start of June three years ago the Cannons were a game below .500 and stuck in 5th place -just as they are now. Injuries -like this season with Deuce Barrell and Denny Andrews being the most serious- were the problem as Deuce, fellow hurler Vic Carroll and outfielder Bob Griffith all missed extended time that year. The '41 season had high hopes but became a terrible disappointment but it was nothing compared to the shock of the awful start to 1942. You may recall that on this day two years ago the Cannons were dead last in the Continental Association at 22-33. That's right. Worse than our neighbors to the north once again. Easy to forget following the exhilaration of a World Championship last October that there have been a lot of disappointment the past few seasons for Cannons supporters. The '42 club was 17 games back at that point and while they did rise to third place, the '42 Cannons ended up 21 gams back of the New York Stars. We all knew on June 5, 1942 that the season was a write-off. Looks an awful lot like we are at that stage again this time around. 
TIME IS RIGHT FOR PRO CAGE LOOP With the talk of great expansion in football and the clamoring for big league baseball on the west coast we may just be entering a golden age for sports once our boys return home when the job is done in Europe and the Pacific. Sports did more than survive during the past few years of the war, it thrived and seems poised for much larger growth going forward. One of the biggest opportunities on the sporting front lies on the hardwood and the timing might just be right for a true professional major league basketball loop. It is not a new idea. Bennie Guilder started the ball rolling in that regard as far back as 1920 and in the middle of that roaring decade other football magnates -most notably Jack Kristich and Rollie Barrell- began the Federal Basketball League. It had 9 teams at it's peak stretching from Brooklyn to St Louis but seemed almost doomed from the beginning when the most famous barnstorming club of the time -the New York Luckies- bailed on the league just before it was set to tip-off and the famous Bigsby Garden refused to allow the league to play there. The FBL lasted until 1930 before shutting down with the Great Crash of 1929 driving the final nail in the coffin. It was called at the time a 'suspension' of operations with an inclination to restart once the league restructured but that never occurred. We are in a different era now. Recent studies have indicated basketball is played more than baseball among high school clubs. The college game, while certainly not at the level of excitement as student grid teams, has become a hugely successful endeavour for the university and colleges of our nation with the year end championship tournament growing in popularity every year. The Bigsby Garden remains the premier venue for basketball in the nation but is run much differently now that Charles and Sam Bigsby are no longer around. The famous stadium recently hosted a national semi-pro cage championship with great success at which the idea of a major pro league for basketball was floated around quite liberally. It obviously has worked well for FABL, for the American Football Association and the North American Hockey Conferation so all signs indicate a big-time league for cagers cannot be far away. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 6/04/1944
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Tuesday June 6, 1944 - Special World News Edition
JUNE 6, 1944   
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June 12, 1944 - College and High School seasons come to end
JUNE 12, 1944 BASEBALL HAS SOME TOUGH DECISIONS AHEAD Now that the invasion of Europe is underway and hopes are for a hasty end to Hitler and the Nazis it is perhaps not to early to wonder how baseball's manpower situation will shape up when the fighting is done. Now, that could still be quite some time as the Germans do not seem to be going quietly and there is still the matter in the Pacific to sort out but now there is hope that the end is in sight for this whole tragic situation and peace will once again reign. But what of baseball? There could be more than 1,200 players coming back to the sport they once played professionally. Baseball's Post-War Committee is hard at work formulating suggestions on how to deal with the status of players when the war is over. Brett Bing of the Toronto Mail & Empire outlined in a column last week just how difficult a challenge clubs might face and speculated on the need to perhaps adjust or make exceptions for war vets to the rule five draft and secondary roster limits. Now, I am not sure FABL President Sam Belton wants to open that can of worms, as it would be a nightmare administratively for the league. And do you treat all war returnees the same regardless if they missed just one season or as many as four or five years? It is this writer's opinion that the league should stand pat on the rules as all 16 clubs will be dealing with the same kettle of fish and there are bound to be a lot of players displaced. It is of the players themselves that I feel the most focus most be applied. Clubs have been playing in many cases with bare bones rosters in the minors but even so, when you add 1,200 returnees at some point in the future, it only stands that 800-1000 players will be out of work. The breakdown is unknown of course at this time, but one has to be pretty confident that in that number will be a large contingent of men who gave up their careers and put their lives on the line for their country. Is it fair they no longer have a job to return to? That would not wash, and the Federal Government has made it known that it will not be accepted in regular society. But baseball is a different animal. It has always been survival of the fittest, only the best available get the jobs and that applies from the big leagues right down to Class C. Sports seems to be ready for a boom. You hear it in football with talks of expansion for the AFA and a rival league in the works. Basketball too is starting to talk about a major pro league being formed taking the best of the best from the many regional leagues around the east and midwest. Should baseball also hitch itself to the growth wagon. With all of the talent coming back is this perhaps the time for FABL to consider growing beyond it's current 16 team setup? Aviation enhancements makes the thought of west coast teams no longer just a dream. Los Angeles and San Francisco are both after AFA clubs and the Pacific Northwest is rumoured to be part of the new as of yet unnamed pro football leagues plans. The Hollywood Heroes owner even hinted that the Great Western loop should form it's own 'major' league if FABL was not planning on putting a team (or teams) in California. At the very least there is likely a demand for more minor league clubs, both by eager fans, and by the vast number of players that could soon be looking for work. Yes, Sam Belton and his FABL magnates have some tough decisions to make and I would expect the urgency for this discussion -while always there- ramped up a bit when news of the landing at Normandy made the headlines. MINERS FINALLY HALT SLIDE The Pittsburgh Miners ended a 9-game losing streak by finally picking up their first win of the month yesterday. It came by a 4-1 count over the lowly Washington Eagles in the second game of a twin bill and followed up 3 straight losses by the Pittsburgh side to the Eagles. What a difference a couple of weeks makes for the Miners, who led the Federal Association by a game over the Philadelphia Keystones at the end of May, but now sit 4 games back of their Pennsylvania rivals and in third place. The Keystones had a strong week, slowing Boston's momentum by winning four out of five games between the two at Minutemen Stadium. Bobby Barrell, who recently notched both his 2,500th career hit and 350th homer, had a huge week with 2 homers and a 7-for-19 showing against the New Englanders. On the year Barrell is batting .326 with a FABL leading 13 homers and 43 rbi's. Boston had entered the series on a high with 6 wins in their previous 8 games to finally climb over the .500 mark after a rough start to the season. Philadelphia leads second place Chicago by a game and a half atop the Federal Association table. In the Continental Association the Toronto Wolves must be getting frustrated. They won 3 of 4 games last week but still lost ground to a dominant Chicago Cougars club, that won 5 of 6 and extended it's lead atop the loop to 7 games.  GRANGE COLLEGE RUNAWAY WINNER AS AIAA NATIONAL CHAMPION The Grange College Mustangs dominated the college baseball scene this year, posting a modern era (post-feeders) record for wins with a 54-8 season enroute to winning the second National Collegiate Baseball Championship in school history. The Mustangs, who won their only other AIAA title in 1934, were led by a pair of sophomores in outfielder Bob Riggins and pitcher Otis Porter. Riggins, a Detroit native who was an All-American a year ago as a freshman and one of the favourites for the Frank Christian Trophy this year, hit .333 with 10 homers and 49 rbi's while playing in all 62 games this season. His batting average was 4th highest in the AIAA and number one among players at major schools. The 20 year old is considered a likely first round pick in the FABL draft next January. Porter, is one of 5 Grange College pitchers expected to be drafted at some point and was also named as a finalist for the Christian Trophy.. Porter missed a couple of starts this season but still went 8-2 with a dominating 11.4 K/9 -the 4th highest mark in that category recorded in the post-feeder era. Code:
COLLEGE SINGLE SEASON K/9 LEADERS PLAYER K/9 SCHOOL YEAR Bob Arman 11.9 Bluegrass State 1941 Hoppy Johnson 11.8 Charleston Tech 1943 Al Jones 11.5 Central Ohio 1935 Otis Porter 11.4 Grange College 1944 Harry Sharp 11.2 Red River State 1939 George Wynn 11.2 Willamette Valley 1940 Hoppy Johnson 11.2 Charleston Tech 1942 Bob Arman 10.8 Bluegrass State 1942  PAIR OF GRANGE COLLEGE PLAYERS HIGHLIGHT CHRISTIAN TROPHY NOMINEES A pair of sophomore players from National Champion Grange College head the list of nominees for the Frank Christian Trophy -awarded annually to the top college player in the nation. Surprisingly the list of six finalists contains no players who were drafted by FABL clubs in January nor will it have any selected in the second half of the pro draft later this month. That is because only college juniors or seniors are eligible for the draft and the nominees this year include four sophomores and a pair of freshmen. It is believed that has never happened before as the Christian Trophy finalists have always included at least one draft eligible player. In alphabetical order the six finalists are: BILLY FORBES: freshman OF Miami State .314/.394/.552 with 11 HR and 59 RBI. Led nation with 17 doubles and was 4th in slugging percentage. JOHNNY PETERS: sophomore OF Liberty College .322/.438/.556 with 9 HR and 38 RBI. Stole 31 bases. Was 6th in nation with 53 wRC and tied for second behind fellow nominee Bob Riggins in batter war with 2.5 OTIS PORTER: sophomore P Grange College 8-2, 2.45 121 K, 39 BB in 95 innings work. Pitched less than some of the others but still finished with third most K's and the 4th highest K/9 (11.4) ever recorded in the AIAA post feeders. Second only to fellow nominee John Stallings in ERA and FIP but Porter faced top competition in playing for the National Champion Mustangs. NATE POWER: sophomore 1B Daniel Boone College .308/.401/.576 13 HR and 45 RBI. Led nation in slugging percentage and tied for first in HR. BOB RIGGINS: sophomore OF Grange College .333/.453/.562 with 10 HR and 49 rbi for national champion Grange College. Led the nation with a 68 wRC and tops in WAR at 3.2. 4th in batting average but highest among those with Great competition. combination of power and speed in CF with 10 HR and 32 stolen bases. Also led nation with 1.015 OPS. JOHN STALLINGS: freshman P Piedmont University 11-1, 1.69 121 K, 29 BB in 112 innings. Led nation in wins, era, FIP, and pitcher WAR. Only knock was Piedmont played against Good competition while the others all faced great. In the 17 year history of the Christian Trophy only 4 winners have been sophomores and only twice has a freshman claimed the honour. The sophomore winners were pitcher Bob Arman of Bluegrass State in 1941, St Magnus outfielder Bob Coon in 1938 and a pair of infielders in 1930 and 1931 in Central Ohio's Freddie Jones and Bill Moore of Lubbock State. Sam Orr of Henry Hudson was not only the first freshman winner, but he was also the first ever winner of the award in 1927 with Sal Pestilli's first of two Christian Trophy's coming following his 1934 freshman campaign at Narragansett. Pestilli, who also won the Christian two years later, and Moore -the only back-to-back winner claiming the 1931 and 1932 trophy- are the only two-time Christian Award winners. The winner, along with the AIAA All-American team, will be announced next week. DYNAMOS FIRST OVERALL PICK SCHAUB CAPS STELLAR HIGH SCHOOL CAREER Roy Schaub, the 17 year old high school senior out of Philadelphia that the Detroit Dynamos selected with the first overall pick in January, did nothing to make the Dynamos doubt their decision. The young righthander went 12-0 with a 0.88 era to make the High School All-American team for the second consecutive year. Schaub ends his high school days with a 43-5 record, a 1.17 era and 723 strikeouts in just 491 innings of work. The victories and strikeout totals rank him second all-time, including the feeder era, behind only 3-time Adwell Award winner and former Cleveland first overall draft pick Hiram Steinberg. Steinberg went 47-0 with 855 strikeouts for Washington High School in New York City. He is presently serving in the Navy. Steinberg won the Adwell in 1939, 1940 and 1941 while Schaub, last year's winner, is expected to be a finalist again this season and looks to join for Washington DC high schooler Walt Messer as the only other multiple-time winners besides Steinberg. Judging solely by the All-American team it was quite a draft for the Detroit Dynamos. The Dynamos were loaded for picks after making several big deals including the one that sent Red Johnson to the New York Gothams. But it might pay off in the long-term as 4 Detroit first rounders were named to the All-America team. Along with first overall selection Schaub, outfielder Edwin Hackberry (pick 3), shortstop Stan Kleminski (pick 7) and pitcher Carl Potter (pick 9) were Dynamos draftees to make the All-American team. Here is the 1944 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICAN TEAM Code:
POS NAME/CL SCHOOL FABL DRAFT STATUS C Ike Perry – Jr (2) Navosta (TX) HS eligible 1945 C Cal Yeagar – Sr Lodi (OH) HS rd 1 pick 14 Toronto 1b-3b Jim Flowers – Sr New Eagle (PA) HS rd 1 pick 5 Pittsburgh 1b-3b Tony Balinger – So Eastern HS, Louisville, KY eligible 1946 1b-3b Fred Williams – Jr Aurelia (IA) HS eligible 1945 2b-SS Nick Remillard – Sr Hillsboro HS, Nashville, TN rd 1 pick 6 Brooklyn 2b-SS Earle Haley – Sr Hamburg (IA) HS rd 2 pick 18 Cleveland 2b-SS Stan Kleminski – Sr Mercer (PA) HS rd 1 pick 7 Detroit OF Yank Taylor – So Pullman HS, Chicago IL eligible 1946 OF Edwin Hackberry- Sr San Diego (CA) HS rd 1 pick 3 Detroit OF George Rutter – Sr Curtis HS, Staten Island, NY rd 1 pick 10 Sailors OF George Richardson – Fr Higganum (CT) HS eligible 1947 OF Don Berry – So Ahoskie (NC) HS eligible 1946 P Roy Schaub- Sr (2) St Joseph’s HS (Philadelphia) rd 1 pick 1 Detroit P Dutch Yoak-Jr (2) La Porte (TX) HS eligible 1945 P Danny Cecil – So Perrysburg (OH) HS eligible 1946 P Cyrus Goodman – So Clarendon (AR) HS eligible 1946 P Carl Potter – SR Bettsville (OH) HS rd 1 pick 9 Detroit HONOURABLE MENTION POS NAME/CL SCHOOL FABL DRAFT STATUS P Eddie Bohannon – So Forest City (AR) HS eligible 1946 P Dick Rutledge – So Green Cove Springs (FL) HS eligible 1946 P Paul Anderson – Fr Milligan HS, Elizabethton TN eligible 1947 C Bob Russo – Jr Hatboro (PA) HS eligible 1945 INF Pat Todd – Jr University HS, San Francsico eligible 1945 INF John Morrison – Fr Clinton Hs, Bronx NY eligible 1947 INF Bill Wise – So Ramsen (IA) HS eligible 1946 OF Frank Reece – So Villisca (IA) HS eligible 1946 OF Ed Duncan – Sr Troy (KS) HS rd 1 pick 15 Brooklyn
 The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 6/11/1944
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10-26-2022, 12:56 PM
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June 19, 1944
JUNE 19, 1944 COUGARS EXTEND LEAD TO DOUBLE-DIGITS The Chicago Cougars continue to roll over Continental Association opponents and with 17 wins in their last 24 games the mighty Cougars have extended their lead over second place Toronto to 10 games. Toronto has dropped 7 of it's last 11 contests, and managed to score just 4 runs in 5 games last week, to fall further off the pace. The Wolves, at 32-24, have certainly not been a bad team despite some offensive struggles of late. However, Chicago has been putting together a dominant start to the season and, at 45-17, show little sign of letting up. The Cougars .726 winning percentage still has them in a great race, but it is with history and not their current Continental Association rivals. The team the Cougars are chasing is themselves, as the current Chicago club is on pace to post the best record in the 53 year history of the CA. The 1892 Cougars -that was the first season of the CA and a year before the World Championship Series had ever been considered- went 96-40 for a .706 winning percentage. No Continental nine has ever matched that level of consistency. The schedule was shorter back then but even when FABL switched to the 154 game slate a few years later the best a Continental side has mustered was a 103-win season. The Philadelphia Sailors did it in 1929 and two years ago the New York Stars matched it when they won the flag by 19 games. This years Cougars, at their current rate, stand to win 112 games. Only four times since 1910 has the margin between first and second place in the Continental Association ever been more than 10 games. If the current trends hold, and you have to think the Cougars will stumble a bit a some point but if they don't, Chicago stands to finish 24 games ahead of second place Toronto, which is something even that dominant 1892 team never accomplished. Toronto Wolves manager Bob Call put on the brave face in the locker room Saturday after a 7-0 pounding at the hands of the Philadelphia Sailors let the Cougars grow their lead to double-digits, admitting that while it's "a long climb back into contention," Toronto was "not willing to wave the white flag quite yet." Perhaps not, but it is getting harder and harder every day not to imagine a scenario where the Cougars are not waiving a Continental Association pennant-winning flag come this October.   The big highlight of the week of George Brooks's no-hitter in game one of the Sunday doubleheader against the Miners. Brooks faced three over the minimum in the 3-0 victory after two walks and one error in the field by Philadelphia. Only one Miner reached second base and it was on a sacrifice bunt by Don Anderson to move Rafael Mendoza into scoring position in a 1-0 game. Brooks fanned eight and threw 107 pitches. It has been a struggle this season, but Brooks has turned it around, winning three of his last four starts to lower his season ERA from 4.96 to 4.15. *** Milestone Time For Bobby, Historic Time For The World *** As the American public was reading the blaring front page of the invasion of Normandy the day after D-Day (6/7/44), Bobby Barrell was able to knock in his 1,500th run on an opposite field double off Boston's Walt Wells in the middle of a deciding four-run eighth in a 5-1 win. That makes three milestones in four weeks:
7/4/1887 - Ira Williams vs Buffalo - 9 IP, 2 BB, 7 K 7/16/1898 - Edmond Bryant vs Detroit - 9 IP, 3 BB, 3 K 8/1/1914 - Ken Gray vs Detroit - 9 IP, 1 BB, 7 K 8/18/1923 - George P Williams vs Chicago - 9 IP, 4 BB, 1 K 5/28/1937 - Art Myers vs Pittsburgh - 9 IP, 1 BB, 4 K 6/18/1944 - GEORGE M BROOKS vs PITTSBURGH - 9 IP, 2 BB, 8 K  BOSTON BEANS- With no first rounder in January the Minutemen did not pick until 31st overall in the first stage of the FABL draft. Looks like they made a good choice as their selection - North Attleborough native Karl Berggren was named a second team All-American for the second year in a row. The 22 year old outfield, who plays his college ball at Huntington State hit .285 with 11 homers and 45 rbi's in 56 games for the Miners. OSA calls him a sure-handed centerfielder with good speed. He swiped 102 bases in his 3 seasons at the West Virginia school....Regional round selection Paul Caissie, an outfielder from Warwick High School in Rhode Island, says he plans on attending Chesapeake State in September but expect the Minutemen to make a solid offer to sway the 17 year old into pro ball...The St Patrick's cagers feel pretty confident they will convince the areas top high school basketball recruit to stay close to home. Steamboat McMillan, a big-bodied center from South Yarmouth, is said to be weighing his options between the Shamrocks, St Blane and Liberty College. Commonwealth Catholic is also said to be close to landing their top local objective. Finn Adams, a guard out of Copley High and pretty fine baseball player as well, has indicated he wants to attend the Cambridge school....Officials from both St Patrick's and Commonwealth Catholic remain upbeat after the death of the Northeast basketball conference and the shift to independent status for the upcoming cage season....Speaking of upbeat, Boston boxing guru Steven MacIntosh sees most of the top pugilists getting back into the ring sometime next season. The sport has been all but shut down the past three years due to the war, aside from the various War Relief fundraising tussles. The title have been vacant all that time but according to the 65-year old trainer, the American Boxing Federation is hard at work for a plan how to resume the sport and give the right candidates title shots. AIAA HANDS OUT COLLEGE HARDWARE GRANGE COLLEGE OUTFIELDER RIGGINS CLAIMS CHRISTIAN The Frank Christian Trophy winner for 1944 is sophomore outfielder Bob Riggins of the national champion Grange College Mustangs. The 20 year old outpointed teammate Otis Porter to become the fifth sophomore to win the award, presented annually to the top baseball player in collegiate baseball. Riggins, who is expected to be a first round draft pick next January in the annual FABL talent sweepstakes, hit .333 with 10 homers and 49 rbi's to help lead Grange College to it's second national championship in school history. He led the nation with a 1.015 OPS and had the 4th highest batting average in the country, but tops amongst players at major schools. Riggins was a near unanimous choice, being named first on 7 of the 9 ballots cast and second on the other two, to easily finish ahead of Porter with freshman pitcher John Stallings of Piedmont University finishing third. Riggins selection continues the trend of pitchers or outfielders claiming the award as an infielder has not won since Lubbock State's Bill Moore won his second of two consecutive Christian Trophy's in 1932. Code:
1944 CHRISTIAN TROPHY VOTING NAME SCHOOL 1st 2nd 3rd POINTS Bob Riggins Grange Col 7 2 0 25 Otis Porter Grange Col 1 3 2 11 John Stallings Piedmont 1 2 3 10 Nate Power Daniel Boone 0 2 2 6 Johnny Peters Liberty 0 0 1 1 Billy Forbes Miami State 0 0 1 1 Code:
PAST FRANK CHRISTIAN TROPHY WINNERS YEAR NAME POS CLASS SCHOOL 1927 Sam Orr 2B FR Henry Hudson 1928 Tommy Wilcox P JR Liberty College 1929 Vic Crawford OF JR Commonwealth Catholic 1930 Freddie Jones 2B SO Central Ohio 1931 Bill Moore 1B SO Lubbock State 1932 Bill Moore 1B JR Lubbock State 1933 Joe Hancock P JR Henry Hudson 1934 Sal Pestilli OF FR Narragansett 1935 Al Jones P JR Central Ohio 1936 Sal Pestilli OF JR Narragansett 1937 Alex LaComb OF JR Cuyahoga University 1938 Bob Coon OF SO St Magnus 1939 Rats McGonigle OF JR Bronx Tech 1940 Don Bitters P JR Hamman College 1941 Bob Arman P SO Bluegrass State 1942 Nelson Flinn OF JR Darnell State 1943 Jim Carter P JR Ellery College 1944 Bob Riggins OF SO Grange College AIAA ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS ANNOUNCED The 1944 Collegiate Baseball All-American teams were announced and the first team includes a pair of players from each of the top two AIAA schools this season. National Champion Grange College is represented by outfielder Bob Riggins -who also won the Christian Trophy- and pitcher Otis Porter. Both are sophomores and each is expected to return to the Mustangs again next season. Miami State finished second in the nation, marking the third time in the past four years the Gulls cracked the top five, thanks in no small part to junior third baseman Gabby Marlowe and freshman outfielder Billy Forbes. Marlowe was one of just three juniors named to the first team and, as such, eligible for the 1944 FABL draft. Only second baseman Eddie Logan out of Gates University, was drafted in January as the Montreal Saints selected the San Francisco native in the second round. Marlowe and first team catcher Gene Ryan, from Bayou State, are hoping to get the call from a FABL club later this month in the final portion of the draft after both were overlooked during the opening three rounds. The second all-star team was also very young with 6 sophomores and 2 freshman being named along with just one junior. That would be Huntington State outfielder Karl Berggren who was selected in January. The Boston Minutemen grabbed Berggren with their second round selection -31st overall. It marked the second year in a row that Berggren was named to the second team. Four first team selections were named to the first team for the second year in a row. They were Ryan, Logan, Riggins and Liberty College outfielder Johnny Peters. Here are the 1944 AIAA All-Americans Code:
1944 FIRST TEAM POS NAME CL SCHOOL FABL STATUS C Gene Ryan Jr Bayou State undrafted 1B Nate Power So Daniel Boone Coll. 1945 eligible 2B Eddie Logan Jr Gates University Rd 2 pick 24 Montreal SS Harry Finney So Bluegrass State 1945 eligible 3B Gabby Marlowe Jr Miami State undrafted OF Bob Riggins So Grange College 1945 eligible OF Billy Forbes Fr Miami State 1946 eligible OF Johnny Peters So Liberty College 1945 eligible P Otis Porter So Grange College 1945 eligible 1944 SECOND TEAM POS NAME CL SCHOOL FABL STATUS C Dino Robinson So Georgia Baptist 1945 eligible 1B Hank Smith So Talmadge State 1945 eligible 2B Del Johnson So West Goshen State 1945 eligible SS George Penza So Yellowhammer State 1945 eligible 3B Bob Miller So Queen City 1945 eligible OF Karl Berggren Jr Huntington State Rd 2 pick 31 Boston OF Archie Kelly Fr Garden State 1946 eligible OF Jake Pomarico So Detroit City Coll. 1945 eligible P John Stallings Fr Piedmont 1946 eligible LIBERTY COLLEGE HAS A LONG HISTORY OF ALL-AMERICANS There was a dry spell for a period but the Liberty College Bells have certainly had more than their fair share of AIAA baseball All-Americans. Johnny Peters becomes just the second player from the Philadelphia school to be named to the first team twice in his college career, joining fellow outfielder John Collins. Second baseman Jake Shadoan was named to the second team twice. Code:
LIBERTY COLLEGE BELLS ALL-AMERICANS
FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
1927 John Collins OF
1928 John Collins OF Jake Shadoan 2B
Tommy Wilcox P*
1929 - Jake Shadoan 2B
1932 Ken Mayhugh 3B
1943 Johnny Peters OF
1944 Johnny Peters OF
* Wilcox won the Christian Trophy in 1928
DYNAMOS TOP PICK WINS ADWELL AWARD Roy Schaub capped a stellar high school baseball career with his second straight Adwell Award. The award, named after former high school and FABL pitcher Red Adwell, is presented annually since 1934 to the player determined to be the best high school ballplayer in the nation. Adwell joins New York Gothams slugger Walt Messer and Cleveland Foresters prospect Hiram Steinberg -both presently serving in the Navy- as the only multiple time winners. Schaub, who the Detroit Dynamos made the first overall selection in the January portion of the FABL draft, capped a 4-year career at Philadelphia's St. Joseph's High School by posting a 12-0 record with a 0.88 era and 193 strikeouts. His high school totals of 43-5 with 723 strikeouts rank second only to Steinberg -who won 3 Adwell Awards- in wins and K's. Schaub outpointed Yank Taylor, a freshman at Chicago's Pullman High School and son of former FABL star Tom Taylor, to claim the award. Edwin Hackberry, a senior outfielder from San Diego High School in California and also a first round pick of the Dynamos in January, finished third. Code:
1944 ADWELL AWARD VOTING RESULTS NAME SCHOOL 1st 2nd 3rd POINTS Roy Schaub Philly St Josephs 5 2 1 20 Yank Taylor Chicago Pullman 2 3 2 14 Edwin Hackberry San Diego(CA) 1 2 4 11 Cyrus Goodman Clarendon(AR) 0 1 1 3 Nick Remillard Nashville Hillsboro 0 0 0 0 Code:
[b] PAST WINNERS OF THE ADWELL AWARD YEAR NAME POS CL SCHOOL 1934 Walt Messer 1B SO McKinley Tech (Washington DC) 1935 Rufus Barrell II P SR Macon (GA) HS 1936 Walt Messer 1B SR McKinley Tech (Washington DC) 1937 Pete Casstevens C SR Syracuse (NY) HS 1938 Bill Barrett OF SR Vineland (NJ) HS 1939 Hiram Steinberg P SO Washington HS (New York City) 1940 Hiram Steinberg P JR Washington HS (New York City) 1941 Hiram Steinberg P SR Washington HS (New York City) 1942 Ben Thompson OF SO Yazoo City (MS) HS 1943 Roy Schaub P JR St Joseph's HS (Philadelphia) 1944 Roy Schaub P SR St Joseph's HS (Philadelphia) PLENTY OF DEBATE CONTINUES ABOUT NIGHT BALL There will be more night baseball games going forward. That is a certainty as the fans have shown they fully support evening games, especially during the week. And at it's recent meeting on the subject, FABL gave the go-ahead to more night contests -at least in the short term- but there was some very loud opposition in some centers. The resolution does give those dissenters a measure of control as an important proviso in the new night ball situation was a big bone of contention, but a necessary one in order to settle the feud. The caveat is that when a club adds an after-dark contest to it's schedule, it must get the consent of the visiting club. Depending upon who you asked either everyone left the meeting happy or no one did. Those against night ball were in a tough spot. As one of the "anti's" puts it, "A team walks in with figures showing all of it's night games had outdrawn any of the day contests aside from the season opener. And that owner says he is worried without more night dates he may not be able to make out with his receipts at the gate. When a club shouts financial distress, you cannot say 'That's your headache.' We had little choice but to give in. Still, it was a fight just the same." It was put in the form of a resolution and not a rule. So teams can schedule more night games this year and next - beyond the maximums set when the schedule came out but only with the consent of their opponent of course. Beyond next year we may have to dig in for another fight. Until then get ready for a lot more week's like the one the Washington Eagles just finished. Eagles owner William Stockdale, a long-time proponent of night ball, saw his club play 6 consecutive contests with an 8:05 start against Philadelphia and Boston last week, including one on Saturday evening.  I may be a pessimist but I don't see that happening on the gridiron. Yes the Cannons were awful those final years in Baltimore, but they did have a full big league organization in place and plenty of young talent when they arrived, and seemed to peak right from day one. I doubt we will be saying the same about the Tigers, and I expect they may be a toothless bunch. There just aren't a lot of established pro football players to go around these days, and as a brand new team dealing with war depleted rosters I do not expect them to land more than a few over-the-hill castoffs that couldn't cut it elsewhere. The rest of the roster will be green, it likely is to contain whatever is left of the former college players declared 4-F that did not get scooped up by one of the established teams. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd the Tigers get if they get mauled in the first few games of the year. We might be a fickle bunch here in Cincinnati. The Cannons are struggling after winning it all a year ago and attendance has plummeted despite that brand new 1944 title banner hanging in the outfield. Attendance is down for all the FABL clubs after last year's promotion of free ducats for military and war services personnel came to an end but the Cannons, who were averaging nearly 28,000 a game a year ago are drawing less than 10,000 per contest this season. ***Congrats to Monarchs ballclub *** The Queen City University ball team finished over .500 for the first time since the Monarchs joined the top level of AIAA baseball in 1934. The Monarchs were 32-30 on the year and also had their first ever baseball All-American. That would be Bob Miller, a 20 year old sophomore third baseman who was born in Lancaster, Ohio and recently learned he was a second team All-American selection after hitting .302 with 9 homers and 45 rbi's for the Monarchs this season. Bob, who will be eligible for the FABL draft next year, has sort of a tie to the Cannons organization as well. His dad, Bob Sr., pitched 12 seasons in the big leagues, all with the then Baltimore-based Cannons, compiling a 99-123 career mark. Bob was never an All-American, but he was by all accounts a pretty solid college pitcher at St Patrick's before being a 1922 first round pick of Baltimore.
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 6/18/1944
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The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 10-26-2022 at 01:00 PM. |
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10-27-2022, 12:33 PM
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#551 |
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June 26, 1944
JUNE 26, 1944 THE MINUTEMEN ARE COMING! Plenty of excitement in Boston as the defending Federal Association champs are suddenly right back in the thick of another pennant chase. The Minutemen spent the past couple of weeks beating up on Pittsburgh and Washington -taking 10 of 15 from the duo- and are now just 3 games back of both Philadelphia and Chicago. The Keystones have had an absolutely brutal stretch - dropping 8 of their last 9 games- while the Chiefs managed just 3 wins in 7 games with St Louis and Detroit last week. The Minutemen got off to a slow start to the season, winning just 7 of their first 21 games, but after bottoming out when they were swept in a May 7th doubleheader in Philadelphia, Boston has gone 30-19. The other team that is finally playing solid baseball in the Fed is the St Louis Pioneers, who are 17-6 this month and are now just 7.5 games off the pace. It was an awful start for a Pioneers team that was expected to contend this year, but perhaps a second half surge like the one they enjoyed last season is on the way. Meanwhile, the clock might be striking midnight on the Detroit Dynamos. The surprise team of the first two months of the season has cooled off the last 3 weeks. Before this stretch started Detroit was 26-22 and 3 games out. During this stretch the Dynamos has gone 7-12 and are now below 500 at 33-34 but they are still within 5.5 games in the ever more tightening Fed race. The Toronto Wolves are doing their best not to concede the Continental Association to Chicago just yet. The Wolves won 8 of their last 9 games and made up a little ground on the front-running Cougars. Chicago was 'only' 5-3 last week and their lead atop the CA is down to 8 games. The CA will be at most a two-team race it seems as the Philadelphia Sailors have slid back to the pack of teams that 15-to-22 games off the pace.  Pittsburgh got things rolling with a three run first off of Dean Astle. The Minutemen would return the favor with four in the top of the second and the gloves were officially off for both offenses. Boston would hit four doubles in the game and take a 4 run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning when Dick Higgins promptly blew the lead and sent the game into extra innings. In the 11th Rafael Mendoza would hit a walk off, two run shot for a Pittsburgh win. Although it was a tough loss for the Minutemen it was nice to see the offense click for 18 hits. In the second game of the series Ed Wood would provide a complete game victory as every single hitter in the Boston lineup recorded at least one hit in a 6-2 win. Boston would take the series with an offensive onslaught led by Henry Warren’s 4-5, three R.B.I. day. The Boston offense would connect for 50 hits in the series. Boston would return home with offense in tow for a 4 game series against the Eagles to close out the weekend. In game one of the series the Minutemen got a wonderful start from Duke Hendricks as he allowed one earned on seven hits in a 8-1 Boston win. Art Spencer and Chick Donnelly would each have three hits in the win. Bill Willman of the Eagles was finally able to cool the Boston offense down as he held the Minutemen to four hits but it just was not enough to get the win. Butch Campbell allowed ywo earned runs and hit a walkoff home run on a 3-2 pitch in the bottom of the 9th for a 3-2 stunner at Minuteman Stadium. Unfortunately, the winning streak would end at four games as Tommy Shafer and Kid Campbell combined to bland the Boston offense in a 2-0 win in the first game of a double header. Ed Wood would get the Minutemen back into the win column with a four hit complete game victory in the second contest of the afternoon. Bill Moore would provide three hits in the 2-1 win. It was a 5-2 week for Boston that allowed them to climb into third place in the standings. Currently, Philadelphia and Chicago are tied at the top of the standings although Philadelphia has played two more games than the Chiefs have. This gives the Chiefs a slightly better winning percentage than the Keystones. With the offense clicking a bit better the Minutemen now have a run differential of +21 on the season. Ol’ Doc feels run differential is a good measure of how a club is really doing. Teams with better run differentials usually have a better record and sit at the top of the standings. Case in point would be the Cougars in Chicago. They own a +118 run differential and are sitting 30 games over .500 cruising towards the CA crown. Teams with poor run differentials and good records are generally playing over there head and will more than likely fall back to earth by season's end. The drama continues this week for the Minutemen as they host first place Chicago for three before red hot St. Louis comes to town to kick off the month of July  Hank McKay was visibly frustrated at a question about recent fan sentiment that he should drop out of the leadoff spot because of his .181 average in June. McKay pointed to his two great months to start the year (.340 in April, .317 in May) and vowed to get back to what was working. But, the scowl on his face said it all: McKay and the Keystones are starting to swoon in the late June heat. Staying Away in Droves Cannons management is said to be seriously considering ending the practice of broadcasting home games on the radio. Presently all Cannons contests, home and away, can be listened to but with attendance down nearly 67% from last season has the club wondering if the practice of giving away home games for 'free' over the air should be curtailed. "The interest is still there as all indications are the radio calls are a big hit, but fans just stopped coming to the ballpark this season," lamented club magnate John E. Tice. Tice admitted the quality on field is not up to par, and certainly down from last season, but all of sports is in the same boat due to the war. Barrell To Start Regularly That is the headline fans have longed for since mid-March when Deuce Barrell went down for the year but unfortunately it does not apply to Deuce this time. Instead, Cannons manager Ad Doria has said that Deuce's uncle -Tom Barrell- will likely see a regular spot in the rotation for at least the time being. Tom, along with several of his brothers, was the heart and soul of the Brooklyn Kings powerhouse in the middle of the last decade and won 3 straight Allen Awards. Injuries have robbed him of much of his natural ability and at age 36 the end of his career may be very close but he is dear in the hearts of the Cannons management team -many of whom were involved in those Brooklyn clubs- so the organization wants to give Tom a proper send-off if this is indeed the end. "And who knows," quipped one observer, "maybe Tom will discover whatever magic elixir Rabbit Day found in Chicago to resuscitate his career this season at age 40." Barrell looked like his discovered it for one day anyways, notching his first win as a Cannon (against 5 defeats) by posting a complete game 5-1 win over the Cleveland Foresters as part of a Sunday doubleheader sweep. Prior to winning both ends yesterday, the Cannons were in a 2-10 slump in games that were part of a twin bill. [/b] Cajun Crusher Coming to Cincinnati [/b] Former World Heavyweight Boxing champion Hector Sawyer will be visiting Cincinnati this week. The Cajun Crusher, as the New Orleans native is known as, will be a special guest of the Cannons on Saturday when they host the New York Stars. Sawyer, who is now a Technical Sergeant in the Army, will be signing autographs and selling war bonds with the Cannons also kicking in a percentage of the gate for the War Relief Fund. It's been a while since the 31 year old stepped into a ring for anything other than a military exhibition match but Sawyer, who owns a 47-3-1 career record, does not rule out a return to the sport when the war is over.
TALK OF PRO CAGE LOOP CONTINUES TO GROW Chicago and Pittsburgh want in. As do Detroit, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. That is the word from an informal meeting held by owners of clubs in two midwestern semi-pro basketball leagues in Chicago this week. Nothing would happen until after the war is over so this winter is likely out of the question but there is certainly a growing interest in seeing a top flight pro league for cagers that draws former collegiate stars similar to the structure of the American Football Association. Details on who will run the league are not plentiful at the moment but Jack Kristich says it won't be him. The AFA President, who was instrumental in the last attempt at a pro league, the short-lived Federal Basketball League, says he is simply too busy with football to get involved this time around but quickly agreed that a cage loop is overdue and he hopes to see one take flight. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 6/25/1944
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10-28-2022, 12:00 PM
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#552 |
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June 26, 1944 - Breaking Trade News
JUNE 26, 1944 BREAKING NEWS - BOSTON/CINCINNATI TRADE The Boston Minutemen and Cincinnati Cannons have hooked up on an 8-player, 1 draft pick deal, with the centerpiece being two-time all-star and back to back World Championship Series winner Billy Dalton heading east to New England. Dalton solves the Minutemen infield problems as it will allow Jim Spencer to shift from the hot corner to second base. The addition of Dalton along with four other veterans in pitcher Roger Perry, catcher Buster Farrar and outfielders Alf Pestilli and Jim Mason might be enough to lift Boston into the favourite role for winning their second straight Federal Association pennant. For Cincinnati, it is the official recognition that there will be no WCS title this time around but the allure of building a pitching staff with 4 players selected first or second overall and all in the peak of their careers. That is assuming that Deuce Barrell, the two-time Allen Award winner who's season ending elbow injury knocke the Cannons out of the Continental Association race even before it began, can make a full recovery. Cannons fans could see a dream-rotation headed by Deuce, Vic Carroll, Bill Sohl and newcomer Bob Arman. Sohl was a second overall selection while each of the other three were the top pick in their respective draft classes. In addition to the 23 year Arman, who is presently in the Army, the Cannons also add two other young prospects and receive Boston's first round selection next January. The defending Worlds Champions, the Cincinnati Cannons who took the hearts of every Boston fan last season with their game seven triumph over our beloved Minutemen, were faced with some real adversity this season. 27 year old star hurler and golden armed delight of the league, Rufus Barrell II, otherwise known as Deuce had his poor elbow explode on him in March. With the loss of Barrell the chance of a Cannon’s repeat appeared to be slim. Pair that loss with C Adam Mullins doing a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy and the Cannons came out of the gates playing .500 baseball. One bright spot for the Cannons was the emergence of LF Denny Andrews who was enjoying his best season as a professional. That all came to an end in mid May when his elbow decided to stop working. With the losses on the roster and field combined with the Chicago Cougar’s meteoric rise through the CA, rumbling from Cincinnati brass could be heard all the way to the Atlantic where the Boston GM was trying to find a way to get his club back into the FED race. Boston is well aware from when the Cannons GM was in Brooklyn that “rumblings” were really code for cannon shots about to be fired. Ol’ Doc was not privy to the intimate details of the back and forth between Boston and Cincinnati but he is well versed in inferring. Safe to say when that phone rang with Cincinnati on the other line if Boston wasn’t going to get stronger, someone else in the FED surely was. Ol’ Doc believes that there may have been a bit of “preventative maintenance” with this deal. Speaking plainly, you don’t let someone with the talent of Billy Dalton, a proven winner, go to the teams you are trying to catch in the standings. Here is the completed deal in full: Boston sends: SP Bob Arman (Military) SS Clifton Smith (MLB) OF Karl Berggen (My draft pick from the January portion of the draft) 1945 1st round draft pick. (Since this trade won’t be processed till after the draft that pick is open to be traded) Cincinnati Sends: 3B Billy Dalton C Buster Farrar OF Alf Pestilli SP Roger Perry OF Jim Mason This deal was shaped around third sacker Billy Dalton. As Boston fans are aware Art Spencer is having a great season manning the hot corner. Spencer is on track for a plus 5 WAR season so why is the team looking toward Dalton. The answer to that question is not at third but on the right side of the diamond at second base. The combination of Henry Warren, Bud Gustafson and Clifton Smith was not getting the job done. Dalton will play third and Art will move to second giving the lineup much more pop than it previously had. The deal also included Buster Farrar who will move right into the mix behind the plate with Bill Van Ness. This is a clear upgrade to the Van Ness/Artesan duo the club is currently rolling out. Without any options left it would appear that Artesan’s days in a Boston uniform are numbered. Expect a trade or an outright DFA for the young glove first backstop. The Boston outfield as a unit is once again a strong point of the club. Adding Alf Pestilli, a lefty that can hit lefties, to the mix just makes that unit so much stronger. Pestilli can play all three OF positions as well as first base giving manager Billy Boshart plenty of options. The pitching staff has been very solid this season for Boston but there is an old baseball adage that you can NEVER have enough quality arms. Perry is enjoying a fine season and is a better option for spot starts than what Boston is currently using with Richardson and Linden. Look for Tom Martin to possibly get a demotion to make room for Perry. The final piece of the puzzle would be OF/1B Jim Mason who will provide a better option than Willie Jones and Bob Donoghue have been giving as first base depth. There is no question that Boston wanted Mason over a few other candidates to really try and fill out their depth and get better on the margins. In return Cincinnati will receive Bob Arman, Clifton Smith, newly drafted OF Karl Berggen and the 1945 first round pick of the Minutemen. Boston is hoping that pick will be #16 in the draft. Ol’ Doc won’t get too deep into the weeds here as I’m sure Ernie Herr from the Cincinnati post will go into greater detail there but this does fit the modus operandi of the Boston GM. Ol’ Doc knows him to be a man of action that is not worried about giving up future assets for continued current success. In a league where many of the GM’s like to hoard prospects the Boston GM is operating in stark contrast. Ol’ Doc would like to remind the head man in Boston that if he keeps dealing his first round picks each year he is losing his opportunity to replenish that renewable currency he likes to quickly deal away. However, Ol’ Doc will also admit watching a team succeed in Boston is a whole lot more fun to cover than a first place club in Columbus, Worcester, Springfield or the other stops along the Minuteman minor league highway. Ol’ Doc was talking about drama in his earlier edition today. This sort of deal makes his words prophetic as this move will hopefully provide high drama the rest of the way this season. It will be interesting to see how the fan base reacts. There were mixed reactions in the streets and taverns of the Queen City when the news broke that Dalton, along with pitcher Roger Perry, catcher Buster Farrar and outfielders Alf Pestilli and Jim Mason had all been dispatched to Boston in an effort to help the team the Cannons topped last October try and repeat as Federal Association flag winners. In return the Cannons receive a lot of future talent, but also create a lot of short-term holes in their lineup. Of the haul Cincinnati claims only Clinton Smith, a raw but gifted 23 year old middle infielder, will see any action with the big club this season. The rest of the pieces are 23 year old righthander Bob Arman -a highly touted hurler who was selected first overall in 1942 but is presently the property of Uncle Sam's Army- as well as Karl Berggren, a Boston area native and 2-time second team All-American who suited up for Huntington State this season after the Minutemen selected him in the second round of the January draft phase. Cincinnati also receives Boston's first round pick in the January 1945 draft but with the players the Cannons gifted to the New Englanders it might well be the 16th and final selection of the opening round. The centerpiece for the Cannons is clearly Arman. Cannons pitching coach Big George Johnson must be dreaming of the day he can count a rotation that includes three first-overall draft picks in Deuce Barrell, Vic Carroll and the 23 year old Arman with Bill Sohl -merely a second overall selection although it was in the same year the Cannons picked 1-2 and selected Dick Blaszak before Sohl- as the fourth man in that talented group. That is assuming that Deuce makes a full recovery from the injury that cost him the season and clearly is a key factor in why this deal was ever considered. Potential doesn't always pan out with elite pitchers but one has to think this move positions the Cannons very well to compete with the Chicago Cougars and the amazing collection of arms they will get back once the war ends. The fact that Adam Mullins will also return, perhaps as early as next season, makes Farrar expendable although the Cannons are noticably weaker behind the plate now with Tommy Morris and Ed Sala battling for the starting job. Roger Perry was a dependable veteran arm and in the short-term the Cannons will muddle through the current season and hope that the likes of Tom Barrell and Dan Adams can cover for Perry's absence from the rotation. But as soon as the war ends and players return there would be no room for Perry in Cincinnati. Same for Alf Pestilli and Jim Mason. While there was no room for Mason already, Pestilli was enjoying a nice season but the outfield was crowded and this will give Rufus Daniels and veteran Henry Jones some more games but they are both just placeholders until the likes of Fred Galloway, Mike T. Taylor and top prospect Dick Blaszak return from the war. At that point with Bob Griffith and Sam Brown here now, the outfield will once again be very crowded. That crowded outfield picture is exactly why the Cannons felt they could deal Dalton - less than a year after they brought him from New York. Dalton now stands a decent shot of accomplishing something very special - three World Championships in three successive seasons with 3 different teams as he played a key role on the '42 Gothams winner as well as the Cannons last October. Denny Andrews had a chance once before to solidify himself as the Cannons third baseman but he failed miserably. However, Andrews looked very good at the plate this season and skipper Ad Doria was forced to shoehorn him in at left field because Dalton owned the hot corner. Andrews is hurt right now, but when he returns in August the hope is he can continue to produce as a third sacker the same way he did the first two months of the season. Until then the Cannons turn to 35 year old Nick Wallace, who has spent the last 4 seasons in Indianapolis, to man third base although if he falters the plan is likely to shift light hitting second sacker Tony White to third since newcomer Clifton Smith will get every opportunity to claim the keystone bag as his own. So it is clearly a step back this season, but really that was a lost cause now anyway, in hopes that the future just became an awful lot brighter. The success of this deal hinges on whether Arman can be a top of the rotation starter as many project. If so, it will not bother the Cannons one bit to see all of those veterans win another title in Boston. FABL DRAFT UPDATE The first round of the summer phase of the FABL draft have been completed. It is actually round four overall as the opening two rounds along with the Regional third round are all completed in January each year. The Chicago Cougars had the opening pick of this phase and they went with George Sutterfield, a 22 year old shortstop out of Georgia Baptist. The Nashville native played just the one season of college ball, slashing .282/.353/.410. Said to be very intelligent with an outstanding work ethic, Sutterfield is very athletic and OSA gives him a ceiling of developing into a star caliber infielder. Speaking of Georgia Baptist, the second pick was Jeep Erickson by the Cleveland Foresters out of a Wisconsin High School. The 18 year old outfielder says he is not going to sign with the Foresters and plans on attending Georgia Baptist in the fall. He wasn't the only fourth rounder to say he is passing on minor league ball in order to receive a college education as Jack Rogers -Brooklyn's pick at #6- is committed to Kit Carson University where the 18 year old plans to play baseball and basketball. The Foresters and Kings will still have an opportunity to change the minds of the two outfielders. There was a trade made during the draft as the New York Gothams sent the first pick of the fifth round -which turned out to be Baton Rogue State shortstop Bill Doucette- to the Detroit Dynamos in exchange for 30 year old righthander Cy Sullivan. Sullivan was 5-7 with a 4.00 era for the Dynamos this season and is 48-50 over his 7 seasons with Detroit and the Chicago Cougars. The Gothams were also said to shopping other picks but as of press time had no takers as of press time. Code:
DRAFT RESULTS: ROUND FOUR PK TM PLAYER AGE POS SCHOOL HOMETOWN 49 CHC George Sutterfield 22 SS Georgia Baptist Nashville, TN 50 CLE Jeep Erickson 18 CF Pardeeville (WI) HS Sheboygan, WI 51 DET Pete Brown 21 P Eaton College Milwaukee, WI 52 NYS Frank Burke 18 P Shinglehouse(PA) HS Buffalo, NY 53 PIT Gary Burgess 18 SS Downey (CA) HS French Valley, CA 54 BKN Jack Rogers 18 CF Glendora (CA) HS Glendora, CA 55 CHI Ted Marcom 17 C Baltic (CT) HS Grafton, MA 56 MON Leo Warren 18 2B Warwick (RI) HS Boston, MA 57 WSH Gene Ryan 22 C Bayou State San Antonio, TX 58 PHS Ray Taylor 18 1B East HS, Nashville Nashville, TN 59 PHK Aubrey Gray 18 3B Avilla (IN) HS Avilla, IN 60 CHC Mike Thorpe 21 P Americus University Walterboro, SC 61 DET George Bundy 18 OF Parkland HS, Portland Portland, OR 62 NYS Danny Allen 21 P College of Waco Wellsville, OH 63 BKN Andy Moyer 17 CF Richmond (CA) HS San Francisco, CA 64 NYS Frankie Foster 17 P Ashland (VA) HS Ashland, VA
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10-31-2022, 01:13 PM
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#553 |
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July 3, 1944 - TWIFB reveals it's all-star ballot
JULY 3, 1944 TWIFB ALL-STAR BALLOT With the 12th annual FABL all-star game set for Washington's Columbia Park just over a week from now it is time for This Week in Figment Baseball to release it's annual all-star ballot. We take a look at each of the two associations and give our opinion of who the starters for each side should be. Let's get started with the Federal Association. FEDERAL ASSOCIATION CATCHER: Paul Wilkerson has had a nice season in Washington and Joe Henry has been a pleasant surprise in Detroit but the easy choice here is Tom Bird of the Chicago Chiefs. Aleady an 8-time all-star, the 36 year old is still our pick despite missing a month with an injury. FIRST BASE: Ron Rattigan is in the midst of what has been the greatest half season of an underrated but very, very good career. It's hard to call a 6-time all-star underrated, but Rattigan often seems to be overshadowed by more traditional first baseman because he does not have the explosive power of a Red Johnson or Sig Stofer. At this writing the 35 year old is leading the Fed in hitting with a .381 average and third in rbi's. Oh, and he still has some power as Rattigan has hit 20+ twice in his career and has 8 so far this season. The Gothams Johnson, Keystones Harry Shumate and Bill Moore of Boston all are having big years and you have to be impressed with the resurgence of Moxie Pidgeon after his move to Pittsburgh. SECOND BASE: At the beginning of the season I am pretty sure no one even consider Gil London would be the starting second baseman in the all-star game but the 30 year old is one of the many reasons the Detroit Dynamos have been such a surprise this season. He made the all-star team once before- that was back in 1939 and he is outperforming his totals from that season so far this year. There is not a lot of competition at the position this year but one who does worth mentioning is Eddie Curtis of the Gothams, a former Cougars farmhand in his first full season in the bigs. SHORTSTOP: Frank Davis of the Chicago Chiefs deserves some consideration but our clear choise is Boston's Lew McClendon. Forced to move from second back to shortstop when Harry Barrell left for military service, McClendon has done a very good job with the glove while also being very productive at the plate the last month and a half. THIRD BASE: There is some real competition at the hot corner with Tommy Wilson of St Louis, Boston's Art Spencer and Washington veteran Mel Carrol all deserving consideration. Bob Martin of the Chiefs is often in the mix as well but he is having a down year. One player who is not is Johnny McDowell of the Miners and he gets our vote. LEFT FIELD: Rookie Pershing Christian of St Louis is a player to watch and Boston veteran Joe Watson perhaps deserves some consideration as well but our choice really comes down to Luke Berry of Pittsburgh and Washington's sensational sophomore Jesse Alvardo. You can't go wrong either way but we will take Alvardo, and only in a small way to give the hometown fans something to cheer about. CENTER FIELD: We are voting for Gail Gifford of the St Louis Pioneers to play in his third all-star game. Boston's Chick Donnelly, Chuck Hood of the Philadelphia Keystones and Pittsburgh's Whit Williams all were worth a good look as well. RIGHT FIELD: With all due respect to Boston's Pete Day, the Gothams Leon Drake, Don Miller of Washington and St Louis' Al Tucker this decision is the easiest one to make in the Fed. Bobby Barrell is the heart and soul of the Keystones and enjoying a monster year that has him the favourite at the midway point to win his third Whitney Award. PITCHER: Yes Walt Wells of Boston -the first pitcher in the Fed to get to 10 wins- likely should get the start and we will take him as one of our three pitchers but there is no way we can pass up giving the ball to the Chiefs Rabbit Day after his incredible turnaround this season when many were thinking the 300-game winner was set to retire. For some reason Wells is not even on the ballot but we still want him on the Fed roster. Others to look at include Buddy Long of St Louis, Washington's Del Burns, George Phillips of Pittsburgh and the Keystones Red Ross. CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION CATCHER: The easy choice for the starting catcher role is Harry Mead of the Chicago Cougars. Mead is really in a class by himself behind the plate this year although long-time backup Bill Parker has had a nice season in Cleveland.FIRST BASE: Marion Boismenu of the Sailors seems poised to make his second straight all-star game appearance as the best in a strong group of first baseman. Cincinnati's Chuck Adams, Ray Cochran of the Stars and the surprising Jake Shadoan in Brooklyn all deserve consideration for a backup role. SECOND BASE: Hal Wood is having the best year of his career for the Toronto Wolves at the age of 30 and gets the nod ahead of Brooks Meeks in Cleveland and the Cougars Billy Hunter, who surprisingly has managed to stay for the most part injury free this season. SHORTSTOP: There has not been a lot to cheer about in Montreal but one of the few things has been the play of Jake Hughes. He is far from the best defensive shortstop in the CA but he is hitting .321 with 15 stolen bases so we will take him ahead of a deep crop that includes Cleveland rookie Jim Adams Jr., Toronto's Charlie Artuso, Skipper Schneider of the Cougars, Steve Summers of the Stars and Cincinnati's Jim Hensley. THIRD BASE: Frank Covarrubias is suddenly the player he was expected to be before the Cannons and Gothams gave up on him. Now 32 years old and with the Philadelphia Sailors he might just make his first all-star game. It won't be as the starter on our ballot however, as the clear choice to start is Hank Barnett of the Chicago Cougars. LEFT FIELD: No sense even thinking about anyone else here. It is Leo Mitchell of the Cougars in a landslide. At press time the 4-time all-star was leading the CA in all 3 triple crown categories and still hitting above .400. CENTER FIELD: This one is a real close call between Toronto's Chink Stickels and Bob Griffith of the Cincinnati Cannons. Both are enjoying nice offensive seasons but Stickels gets the nod on the strength of his defense -including 10 assists- being slightly better than Griffith. RIGHT FIELD: He has missed a handful of games with injuries but Cincinnati's Sam Brown is hitting over .350 and gets our vote. It was a tough decision as Gus Hull of Toronto, Chubby Hall in New York and Cleveland's Lou Balk all were in the mix. PITCHER: As tempted as one might be to just send the entire Chicago Cougars pitching staff to Washington we are going to break it up just a bit and add Toronto's Bernie Johnson to our top three. Johnson is third and you can take your pick on who starts between Cougar teammates Art White and Harry Parker. We typically refrain from voting for relievers but we make an exception this year and will put one name on our ballot: Ben Curtin of the Cougars who is 10-1 with 8 saves and a 1.01 era in 31 appearances this season - all in relief.  KEYSTONES SWEEP BIG FED SERIES WITH CHICAGO It was a bad week to be a baseball fan in the Windy City as both the Cougars and Chiefs struggled. The Chiefs ended the month of June in a virtual tie with the Philadelphia Keystones for top spot in the Federal Association but then spent a rough weekend in Broad Street Park, losing 3 games in two days to suddenly find themselves 3 games back. The series opener saw the Chiefs squander a 4-0 lead as Keystones bats exploded for 7 runs over the final two innings to claim a 9-4 victory and regain sole possession of top spot in the Fed. Vets Marshall Strickland and Harry Shumate had the big bats Friday as Strickland hit a pair of doubles and drove in 5 runs while Shumate -who is quietly having an outstanding season - went 3-for-5 with a pair of rbi's and 2 runs scored. The story for Sunday's twin bill was also Philadelphia comebacks as the Keystones overcame another 4-run deficit to take the opener 5-4 in 10 innings with Chet McCormick driving in 3 runs for the 'Stones including the game winner in the 10th. It was more of the same for the struggling Chiefs, who have lost 7 of their last 9 ballgames, in the nightcap. Chicago took a 3-2 lead in the 7th inning only to see the Keystones quickly tie the game up and then win it in the bottom of the ninth with another walk-off hit - this one a single off the bat of John Busby to make a loser out of Luis Sandoval and the Chiefs. ***COUGARS FIRST LOSING WEEK *** For the first time this season the Chicago Cougars looked like a team that was beatable. The Cougars went just 1-5 this week while dropping three 1-run games in Cincinnati and then losing twice in 3 outings against Toronto. The second place Wolves are suddenly within shouting distance at 7 games back as Chicago needed a 5-3 win in 11 innings in the second game of their doubleheader yesterday to salvage a win in Canada and halt a 7-game Chicago losing streak. The Continental race could have been so much tighter had the Wolves not squandered a big opportunity as they lost 3 straight at home to the New York Stars while the Cougars were falling in Cincinnati. 
"It's frustrating," signed Bordwell. "We know without moving those picks we would not have won the title but it is still hard seeing your rivals get players that our staff really coveted while we could just sit and wait." The Cannons did land 7 players in the human GM portion of the draft (rounds 1-10) which was completed over the weekend. The Cincinnati selections are: Code:
CANNONS 1944 DRAFT SELECTIONS RD PICK NAME POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN Regional Dee Hill C 17 Seneca HS Louisville, KY 5 80 Jim Hall SS 18 Sacramento HS Sacramento, CA 7 101 Gabby Marlowe 3B 22 Miami State New York, NY 8 128 Frank Thiel 2B 18 Franklin HS Los Angeles, CA 9 144 Lee Johnson P 18 Lamar HS Birmingham, AL 10 160 Billy Cannon SS 18 Whittier HS Whittier, CA The player the Cannons are most excited about is Jim Hall. You hear it all the time but Bordwell seemed very sincere when he said how surprised the organization was when hall was still available at the end of the fifth round. "He is going to hit in the majors. The question is whether he remains at short or has to be shifted somewhere else." Legendary scout Possum Daniels, who was around recently catching his son Rufus Daniels play for the Cannons also speaks highly of Hall. At least we think it is highly as Possum declared after hearing that the official OSA report said that in his prime Hall will be an average contact hitter. "Hogwash," spit Possum. "In his prime, this feller will hit the stripe off'n a skunk's back, son!" The other Cannons selections were third baseman Gabby Marlowe, who was a key piece on a strong Miami State team this season and was taken in the 7th round with a pick that came from Pittsburgh along with Jack Cleaves last summer. They went back to California for pick seven in Frank Thiel. Thiel and fifth round Jim Hall have played against each other on the coast and OSA sees a lot of similarities between the two middle infielders. There is some concern that the 9th round pick - righthanded pitcher Lee Johnson out of Lamar (SC) High School- might be difficult to sign. Johnson has committed to College of Waco but the Cannons hope to change his mind. OSA sets the ceiling for the 18 year old as a back of the rotation arm. John Barrie, who played briefly for the then Baltimore Cannons in the 1920s, is the club's west coast scout and he was obviously very busy as Cincinnati's final selection was also a California high schooler with a very appropriate name for the organization. 18 year old Billy Cannon is coming to the area regardless if he signs with the Cannons as he has committed to Bluegrass State but does appear to be leaning towards minor league ball. Barrie has seen Cannon play quite a bit this season and while he admits very few 10th round picks ever make it to the major leagues, he feels Cannon might just be an exception to the rule. Now to the business of getting these players signed and in the organization. None will likely crack the OSA top 100 when they do sign, but the Cannons still feel the draft haul exceeded the club's expectations- as low as they were with so few selections.
 8-CLUB PRO GRID LEAGUE READY TO GO ON PACIFIC COAST The Pacific Coast, which sought but never obtained a franchise in the American Football Association, finally has found its way into the big leagues - by organizing a league of its own. The new setup to be known as the National Professional Football League, will face a lot of problems next fall -manpower, transportation, etc.- but no professional football loop on the West Coast, and there have been a number of them, has been so thoroughly panned or so financially strong as this one. It's the brainchild of William "Big Bill" Freelove, an aviation industrialist from Los Angeles and self-proclaimed football nut. Freelove travelled up and down the coast interviewing prospective club owners, and came up with financially sound backers to start franchises in Seattle, Portland, Oakland, San Francisco, Hollywood, San Diego and two in Los Angeles. Boat builders, electrical concern heads and restaurant operators are included among the owners, giving the league an impressive bulge in the bank-roll department. The owners tossed $5,100 on the conference table for each of the eight clubs, so the league starts off with practically a $50,000 bank account. Uniforms already have been bought and paid for by each club, a constitution patterned after that of the AFA has been adopted and the schedule -to begin in late August- has been drawn up. The only challenge now is finding bodies to fill the uniforms. GARDEN CAGE CALENDAR SWAMPED WITH TEAMS The Bigsby Gardens already has so many college basketball teams lined up for next winter that it can't find room for them all. A spokesman for the famous New York City stadium says they could run college cage tilts seven days a week with the interest from teams. However, the plan is to limit it two three double-header events a week in addition to the annual preseason tournament and the final two rounds of the National Championships.  The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 7/02/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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July 10, 1944
JULY 10, 1944 ROSTERS REVEALED FOR ALL-STAR GAME Tomorrow night in Washington D.C., the top players in the Federal and Continental Associations will gather to compete in the 12th annual FABL All-Star Game. It promises to be a star studded affair but -as was the case each of the past two seasons- there will be many big names missing as well over 1,200 professional ballplayers -including many big leaguers- continue to serve in the World War. The biggest surprise had to be the fact that the host Washington Eagles placed 5 players on the Federal Association All-Star Team including three pitchers. The Eagles will be represented by hurlers Del Burns, Dan Everett -who sit first and third for lowest ERA among Fed qualifiers- and Kid Campbell along with veteran third baseman Mel Carrol and outfielder Don Miller. Only Carrol, who had been named four times in the past, has previous All-Star Game experience.  The Philadelphia Keystones -tops in the Federal Association standings- had 5 players named to the All-Star team tying them with the Washington Eagles for the most from a Federal Association nine. The Philadelphia Sailors of the Continental Association will also send 5 players to the game. *** NINE FOR BIRD AND BARRELL *** Chicago Chiefs catcher Tom Bird and outfielder Bobby Barrell of the Keystones will each be making their ninth appearance at an All-Star game. That allows them to tie Detroit's Frank Vance -who is active this year but was not selected as an all-star- for the most appearances all-time. A complete list of players to be named to at least 5 all-star games is in TWIFB's all-star game history section below. The oldest and youngest selections this season are each making their first ever all-star appearance, and are two of 19 first-time participants. Philadelphia Keystones pitcher Tim Walters is the oldest at 39 years, 269 days. Walters, who is an impressive 7-1 with a 1.35 era pitching exclusively out of the pen for the Keystones, is no stranger to be the oldest something as last year he made his big league debut at the ripe old age of 38. He was first drafted n 1922 by the Chicago Cougars and Ducky Davis of the Cleveland Foresters -the youngest player to be selected this year- was just 2 years old at the time. Davis, who is 6-2 with a 2.71 era this season as a rookie for the Foresters, is exactly one month younger than Chicago Cougars infielder Skipper Schneider. Schneider, by the way, is making his fourth all-star game appearance and is already in his 5th year as an everyday player. Every FABL club will be represented by at least one player. Here is the breakdown by team and the number of times each member of the 1944 All-Star Game roster has been selected in his career. 1944 ALL-STAR SELECTIONS BY TEAM COUGARS- 7 Harry Parker (2), Art White (4), Ben Curtin (2), Harry Mead (2), Hank Barnett (7), Skipper Schneider (4), Leo Mitchell (5) KEYSTONES- 5 Jonah Brown (1), Red Ross (3), Tim Walters (1), Harry Shumate (2), Bobby Barrell (9) SAILORS- 5 Doc Newell (4), Hannibal Davis (1), Bill Watson (1), Marion Boismenu (2), Frank Covarrubias (1) WASHINGTON- 5 Del Burns (1), Dan Everett (1), Kid Campbell (1), Mel Carrol (5), Don Miller (1) PITTSBURGH- 4 Billy Ligons (1), Johnny McDowell (2), Luke Berry (1), Whit Williams (1) TORONTO- 4 Bernie Johnson (1), Charlie Artuso (2), Hal Wood (1), Chink Stickels (2) BOSTON- 3 Walt Wells (4), Lew McClendon (3), Pete Day (5) CINCINNATI- 3 Butch Smith (4), Bob Griffith (1), Sam Brown (3) CLEVELAND- 3 Ducky Davis (1), George Rotondi (1), Lou Balk (2) CHIEFS- 2 Tom Bird (9), Ron Rattigan (7) DETROIT- 2 Joe Henry (1), Gil London (2) NY GOTHAMS- 2 Ed Bowman (2), Red Johnson (4) ST LOUIS- 2 Buddy Long (2), Gail Gifford (3) BROOKLYN- 1 Vernon Ruch (1) MONTREAL- 1 Jake Hughes (3) NY STARS- 1 Hank Mittan (1) ALL-STAR GAME HISTORY As we prepare for the 12th annual All-Star game the Federal Association leads the series but a win by the Continental nine can lift that loop into a tie for the first time ever. The Feds lead in wins by a 6-5 count mainly on the strength of victories in the first three mid-season classics including an 8-5 win at Chicago's Whitney Park back in 1933, which was the very first All-Star game. Here is a look at the year by year results and a list of the players who have participated in the most all-star contests. Code:
PAST ALL STAR GAME RESULTS YEAR LOCATION RESULT WINNING PITCHER MVP 1933 Whitney Park Federal 8 Continental 5 Ben Curtin STL Pete Asher Pit 1934 Riverside Stadium Federal 11 Continental 7 Chick Stout Pit Tom Taylor Cougars 1935 Broad Street Park Federal 5 Continental 2 Art Myers Keystones Freddie Jones StL 1936 Pioneer Field Continental 6 Federal 4 Tom Barrell BKN Dick Walker Sailors 1937 Dominion Field Federal 4 Continental 2 (19) Don Attaway Keystones Don Attaway Keystones 1938 Bigsby Oval Continental 5 Federal 4 (13) Bob Cummings BKN Fred McCormick TOR 1939 Forester Stadium Continental 6 Federal 3 Art White BKN Fred McCormick TOR 1940 Thompson Field Federal 7 Continental 4 Red Hampton Chiefs Billy Woytek Keystones 1941 Kings County Continental 8 Federal 4 Pete Papenfus Cougars Fred Galloway Cincinnati 1942 Fitzpatrick Park Federal 7 Continental 4 Ed Wood BOS Hank Barnett Chiefs 1943 Parc Cartier Continetal 7 Federal 3 Dick Lyons, Cougars Gail Gifford, StL 1944 Columbia Stadium Code:
MOST ALL-STAR SELECTIONS 9 Frank Vance Detroit 9* Tom Bird Chiefs 9* Bobby Barrell Keystones 8 John Lawson Military Service Cougars 7 Adam Mullins Military Service -Cincinnati 7 George Cleaves Military Service- Pittsburgh 7 Fred McCormick Military Service -Toronto 7 Harry Barrell Military Service- Boston 7* Hank Barnett Cougars 7* Ron Rattigan Chiefs 6 Pablo Reyes Military Service -Pittsburgh 6 Moxie Pidgeon Pittsburgh 5 Fred Galloway Military Service -Cincinnati 5 Joe Hancock Military Service- Toronto 5 Dick Lyons Cougars 5 Al Miller Military Service -Chiefs 5 Freddie Jones Chiefs 5 Sergio Gonzales Military Service -Detroit 5 Lefty Allen Military Service -Pittsburgh 5 Dean Astle Boston 5 Mahlon Strong Pittsburgh 5 Sal Pestilli Military Service -Detroit 5* Mel Carrol Washington 5* Pete Day Boston 5* Leo Mitchell Cougars *selected to 1944 ASG COUGARS STUMBLE OPENS THE DOOR IN CONTINENTAL RACE The Chicago Cougars have come back down to earth in the past two weeks, winning just 3 of their last 16 games and suddenly the talk has shifted from a record-setting season to just trying to hold off the Toronto Wolves. The lead on Toronto, double-digits not too long ago- is down to six games but could have been much less had Toronto not also stubbed it's toe. The Wolves dropped five straight last week at home to Montreal and Brooklyn - a disappointing turn of events for the Dominion Stadium faithful after witnessing their club take two of three from the aforementioned Cougars to close out last week. The Continental might even become a four team race as the Philadelphia Sailors and Cincinnati Cannons are both charging. The Sailors swept a 4-game weekend series from the Cougars and have won 11 of their last 13 games to move within 7 games of top spot. The Cannons are 9.5 games back and suddenly 3 games over .500 after shaking up the team with a major deal with the Boston Minutemen. Cincinnati enters the all-star break on a 6-game winning streak and have won 14 of their last 17. In the Federal Association the Philadelphia Keystones enter the break with a 4 game lead on the second place Chicago Chiefs and 4.5 up on Pittsburgh. The Minutemen are just 5 back while St Louis is showing some signs of life at 8.5 off the pace after going 25-12 since the beginning of June.  LEAGUE UNVEILS CHANGES TO DRAFT PROCESS FABL President Sam Belton announced the league is making some changes to the way FABL will conduct it's amateur player draft going forward. Here are the points made in Belton's press release followed by some breakdown afterwards:
The news came as a surprise to many FABL General Managers but for the most part was well received and by many considered a welcome change. There had often been concern about the possibility teams would give much less than a full effort in the second half of a season in which they were no longer in contention -with an eye only on improving their draft standing. The first point on that list - the installation of a draft lottery- will curtail the so-called 'tanking' to a great degree. It will also mean teams at the bottom of the standings will in many cases be putting in a full effort to improve their draft position rather then the current system, which while not specifically encourages tanking, does next to nothing to penalize it. The lottery, which as mentioned just applies to the opening two rounds, will give the 14 non-pennant winners a better chance to draft higher based upon how much they improved over the previous seasons won-lost record. Here is an example from Belton: Quote:
The other big news was the league is working on a partnership either with the AIAA or AAU for one or two summer leagues. These would be showcase events of some sort, possibly entries by state or region, to allow the 400 prospects eligible for the upcoming draft (and perhaps those from future drafts as well) to showcase their skills outside of the school league environment and against the best of the best amateur prospects. It is something the league had hoped to implement much earlier but the manpower and travel concerns of the war has delayed this. The hope is the war is over and the summer loop (or loops) can be up and running in 1946. *** NAYSAYERS SAY TRADING IS DOOMED *** There has been some negative feedback, mainly out of the New York market, that this will be the end of trading. Most proponents of the idea feel this is an ill-informed and completely inaccurate assessment. First round picks will always have great value and depending on the situation they may even be more valuable in trade. John Brinker of the New York Mirror is one scribe who certainly subscribes to that theory. " I do think it's true that it might, depending on the situation, be easier now to get top pick in a trade," explains Brinker. "Wait til draft time when the order is known and make the trade then. Let's say Washington (to pick a name out of the hat) has a tremendous season and finishes 2nd with a bonus in the lottery for improvement and pulls the #1 pick. The GM might think, "If I had one more piece..." and be willing to trade for Pestilli instead of drafting a HS kid who won't be a big leaguer for several seasons." It remains to be seen how these new changes will play out in the long run. Perhaps they will need to be tinkered with again but part of the success of FABL is it's ability to reinvent itself when challenges are presented. A lottery for pre-determined players did not work as well as had been hoped but it gave way to the birth of the Janaury portion of the draft. The next step is aimed at eliminating the temptation to tank and keep the challenge and unpredictability of stats-only baseball intact for General Managers. If it needs tweaking after a few season trial the league will most assuredly act accordingly and the league will once more evolve. Congrats to the three Minutemen who were elected to the All-Star team. Lew McClendon will start for the FA at SS. Pete Day will come off the bench and most likely get some time in RF and Walt Wells may see some time in relief. In their first week in Boston, Buster Farrar hit a home run but is otherwise hitting .231, Alf Pestilli is at .222 with 4 RBI's, Roger Perry is 1-0 with 5k's to zero walks and Billy Dalton is hitting .185. Boston is not overly concerned with the slow starts as the team finished 5-3 on the week and currently own a 44-40 record. they sit 5 games back in the FA. With it being All-Star week the Minutemen have a chance to reset their rotation as they gear up for a big three game series against Philadelphia to start the second half of the season.  Five Keystones have been named to the Federal Association All-Star Team including three pitchers on the Fed's top pitching staff, which has compiled a 2.95 team ERA. The ace of the staff, Red Ross (11-4, 2.49 ERA), was definitely a deserving nod, but the remarkable selections were bullpen arm 39-year-old Tim Walters (7-1, 1.35 ERA) and Rule 5 middle reliever-turned-fifth starter Jonah Brown (4-2, 1.88 ERA in 76.2 IP). Brown does not qualify for the ERA title in the Fed, but he falls only 5.1 innings short, so he may qualify in the next couple of weeks. Washington's Del Burns leads the Fed at 2.01 ERA and Harry Parker of the Cougars leads all of baseball at 1.96. Walters debuted last year as a 38-year-old freshman after toiling in the Keystones minor league system for 18 years. Walters seemed stuck at AAA Louisville and after 10 seasons, it looked like this is where his career would stall out. But, after 569 appearances, he finally made it to the big leagues, but as a reliever, which is a bit surprising since 430 of those minor league appearances were starts. "After all these years, I thank the Keystones for giving me a chance and believing in me", Walters said. "But more than that, I thank my family for sticking by me and allowing me to chase my dream." On the hitting side, Bobby Barrell earned his ninth All-Star selection and his path to the major leagues was the direct opposite of Walters. Two short years in the minors allowed him to leap to the big club coming out of Spring Training from AA New Orleans in 1931 and, year 14 of his Keystones career has been a year of milestones for the Georgia Jolter. Barrell has picked up his 350th home run, 2500th hit, and 1500th RBI in the first half, leading the Keystones to a tremendous start to the season. Finally, Harry Shumate has had an under-the-radar season, but he is a sudden contender for the Fed batting title at the end of the first half. Shumate only trails Washington's Mel Carrol in the batting race and only trails him by three points, hitting a hefty .345. Shumate finished with a flourish, earning multi-hit games in five of his last six contests. One school of thought is that in hindsight Cannons should not have made that deal -as enticing as Bob Arman and the other young newcomers might be for Cincinnati's future- because the quick turnaround now has the team within shouting distant of what was considered an impossibility just two short weeks ago -a return trip to the World Championship Series. Yes, Cincinnati likely would have been even stronger with Dalton at third base, but you can't complain about the job 36 year old Nick Wallace (.264 avg) has been doing in his first 14 FABL games since 1940. However, before jumping on the idea the deal was bad for this season let's take a moment a consider the fact that perhaps it was the shake-up itself that prompted the remaining Cannons to suddenly start playing with passion. When you turn over more than 20% of your big league roster -5 players went to Boston- it tells everyone left that management was not happy. Suddenly skipper Ad Doria is pleased as punch and everything has gone right the past couple of weeks. All-Star Butch Smith and Vic Carroll have been outstanding on the mound and even Tom Barrell is showing glimpses of the 1934 version of himself after three straight strong outings. The bats are booming too. Sam Brown is hitting .410 this month after coming back from his latest minor injury and Johnny Potter -only called up because of the trade- is 3-for-7 as a pinch-hitter while recently recalled Ed Sala -again because of the trade sending Buster Farrar to Boston- is hitting .353 since his promotion. Will it continue? Odds are not in our favour as the Cannons of 1944 are neither as good as they have been the past two weeks or as bad as they were the first two months of the season but it is nice to see the team playing inspired baseball once again after moping through the first couple of months where the focus was more on Deuce Barrell's absence than what is still a pretty solid ballclub. A pennant is a long-shot as there are still three teams ahead of them and a long ways to go but it should would be nice to get back in the race. CANNON FODDERCongratulations to Butch Smith (10-5, 2.14) on his 4th selection to the CA all-star team. Joining him in Washington for tomorrows 12th annual tussle will be outfielders Sam Brown (.360,3,18) and Bob Griffiths (.287,4,37). It will be Brown's first appearance as a CA star but he did play in the game twice for the Federal Association and is thrilled to be able to return to his old home park in Washington. Griffiths is making his first appearance as an all-star.....All of the draft picks except for 8th rounder Frank Thiel is signed in Cincinnati and it is believed Thiel will put pen to paper this week. Considering the Cannons did not have a pick until the 5th round the club is very happy that 5th rounder Jim Hall is 162nd on the OSA prospect list, 7th rounder Gabby Marlowe is 209th and trade pickup Karl Berggren from Boston checks in at #170....Speaking of contracts and scouting, the Cannons have announced that Bill Bordwell, who became their scouting director a year ago when Rufus Barrell retired, has signed a two-year extension with the club. This has left the organization with roster sizes from AAA- C of 24/24/23/24/34. Rumours around the front office, clubhouse is that this just the beginning of the restructuring of the minor league system. Ask for comments the team spokesman said "The Wolves have taken this hiatus in the Figment schedule to make moves in the organization." When ask if this was anticipation of possible war returnees this summer the answer was one word "Yes".  "At least this time it's not all our fault. Although I hear there was no love in some places for our Red Johnson deal." "Simply put, if we're going to have a draft make it straight forward. Let the weaker teams use their picks as they see fit to improve their teams." "Here we go again. Who can plan for the future when the rules keep changing? Can't we just run our teams the way we'd like to without interference?" On the record the teams Asst GM, Frank Escoe, summed up the organization's public stance, "It is what it is. We'll do our jobs and work withing the rules the best way we can. It won;t do any good to complain. This organization has done well creating winners, whatever the rules." From my seat I see fewer deals as teams are less certain of what they'll receive. Hopefully the boys will be home from Europe and the Pacific soon enough to fill out rosters.
AROUND THE LEAGUE Here is an updated for each FABL squad on their recent draft picks: BOSTON- No first round pick this year and they dealt second rounder Karl Berggren to Cincinnati recently so as expected Boston does not have a single top #100 prospect. Of the group just drafted -all have been signed- 5th round pick SP Virgil Harris checks in at #166 on the OSA list. BROOKLYN- The Kings are thrilled to see top pick Nick Remillard debut at #12 on the OSA prospect list. The high school shortstop from Nashville is pegged as the next Harry Barrell for the Kings. CHIEFS- The Chiefs didn't have a first round pick, but have hopes for their second rounder Willie Barth, a high school pitcher out of Lancaster, Pa. They are still waiting on him to put pen to paper. Ted Marcom, a 4th-round catcher, checks at 277 on the OSA list and is the highest player signed by the club so far. COUGARS- First rounder Bert Rogers agreed to a deal with the Cougars this week. The 12th overall pick, a 17 year old lefthander, is a local boy and debuts quite nicely at #73 on the prospect pipeline. Round four pick Mike Thorpe -who is 176th on the OSA list- is another arm as the Cougars continue to stockpile loads of young pitching talent. CINCINNATI- Everyone except for 8th rounder Frank Thiel is signed in Cincinnati, and Thiel should sign soon. Considering the Cannons did not have a pick until the 5th round the club is very happy that 5th rounder Jim Hall is 162nd on the prospect list, 7th rounder Gabby Marlowe is 209th and trade pickup Karl Berggren from Boston checks in at #170 CLEVELAND- First rounder Joe Robinson is not yet signed but the Foresters did agree to terms with second round selection Earle Haley. The 18 year old shortstop was chosen 18th overall and debuts at #51 on the OSA prospect list. DETROIT- The wealth of talent acquired in this draft has all signed. That would be six of the first 19 picks and includes pitcher Roy Schaub, taken first overall as well as outfielder Edwin Hackberry, shortstop Stan Kleminski, pitcher Carl Potter, catcher Red Rodgers and third baseman Lou McCright. Potter leads the way according to OSA, which ranks him the 13th best prospect in the league right now. Schaub is 24th, Rodgers 81st and McCright is 179th. Hackberry and Kleminski just signed today and have not yet been ranked by OSA. MONTREAL- The Saints are still working on signing their top two picks. Pitcher Ted Coffin was taken 8th overall and is said to be considering an offer from Cookeville State but is expected to eventually sign with the Saints. Same for Eddie Logan, a second baseman taken in round two, but Gates University is pushing hard to try and get the San Francisco born Logan to stay on the west coast. Third rounder Cliff Berwald, a New York state native, did sign. NY STARS- Eli Panneton is signed and on his way to the Big Apple. The 4th overall pick is going straight from Aberdeen College to the big leagues and debuts at #17 on the OSA list. The Stars are still trying to sign their second, third and fourth rounders. NY GOTHAMS- Trades sent the Gothams first and second round picks away but they did get regional round selection Charlie Hoffman signed. An 18 year old pitcher out of Clinton High in The Bronx, he debuts as #215 on the OSA list. KEYSTONES- So much for "impossible". Righthander Rick Dixon signed with the Keystones on a $9,300 deal. Dixon had verbally committed to Bayside University, but took the money offered by the Keystones and a potential fast rise through the lower minors despite his young age. The Keystones plucked him in the regional round, as Dixon was born in Philadelphia and moved to Honey Brook at a very young age, which is over 50 minutes from Broad Street Park. Dixon was 30-1 in three high school seasons at Honey Brook High School. Six draftees signed on the dotted line, but#11 overall pick Ben Thompson remains unsigned. Third-round pick centerfielder Harry Bennett had the highest debut of any of the signees at #244. SAILORS- One down, one to go as far as the Sailors two big pitchers. First rounder George Rutter, taken 10th overall, is signed and debuts at #57 on the OSA list. Second rounder Lee Ahlstrom is still being heavily courted by St Magnus in his home state of Minnesota but the Sailors believe the 18 year old righthander will sign soon. PITTSBURGH- Pittsburgh has signed top pick Jim Flowers (17 year old 5th overall pick) but he is not yet ranked by OSA, as he just agreed to terms this morning. Second rounder Charlie J Williams, an 18 year old centerfielder, is also signed and ranked 160th by OSA. ST LOUIS- First rounder Dave McCraw, an 18 year old middle infielder from New York City has not signed yet as national champion Grange College is courting him as well. Second rounder Al Monroe, an outfielder from College of Waco, is signed but OSA says he falls outside of their list of the top 500 prospects. TORONTO- Things could not have gone much worse for Toronto. Round one pick Cal Yeager, a high school catcher from Ohio, checks in at just 152nd on the OSA prospect list. But at least he signed. The Wolves lost both their second rounder King Allen (to Coastal California) and third rounder Frank Williams Jr. (Long Island Maritime) to college ball. WASHINGTON-Tough week for the Eagles as none of their first 7 picks have signed yet. You need to go to 8th rounder Whitey Spence, an outfielder from Erie, Pa. before you get to a signed Eagles draft pick. It is expected first rounder Jim Sibert will sign but second round selection Jackie Garner says he is going to Northern Mississippi and fourth rounder Gene Ryan is being heavily courted by Bayou State.  The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 7/09/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 11-01-2022 at 11:31 AM. |
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11-01-2022, 11:35 AM
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#555 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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July 10, 1944 - special All-Star Game history insert
ALL-STAR FLASHBACK Here is a look back at the details of each of the previous eleven games:1933 WHITNEY PARK IN CHICAGO: Federal Association 8 Continental Association 5 It was on July 6, 1933 that the first all-star game was played. Whitney Park, named after the founder of both big league baseball and the Chicago Chiefs franchise, was an ideal venue as a capacity crowd of 32,250 witnessed Bob Worley, then of Montreal, swing at the first pitcher thrown by the Keystones Ed Baker, and fly out to the Chiefs Jim Hampton in leftfield to officially begin the legacy of the all-star game. The Continental side struck first as with two-out in the opening frame Hall of Famer Max Morris singled off Baker and then Moxie Pidgeon ripped a 2-run homer. The lead was short-lived as the Feds rallied to tie with a run in each of the first and second innings before taking the lead for good in the third when Pete Asher hit a 2-run double as part of a 3-run outburst. When the dust settled the final tally was 8-5 for the Feds with Ben Curtin of the St Louis Pioneers getting credit for the victory while the Stars Les Zoller was tagged with the loss. Asher, the Pittsburgh shortstop at the time, ended up as the star of the game with 2 singles and a third rbi to go with that third inning double as he upstaged Freddie Jones of St Louis, who also had 3 hits in the game. 1934 RIVERSIDE STADIUM IN NEW YORK: Federal Association 11 Continental Association 7 The Feds won for the second year in a row despite being outhit 16-10 and committing 3 errors while the Continental side did not make any miscues. The game created what remains to this day as the biggest controversy in all-star history when Dick Pozza, who was managing the Continental side despite being recently fired by the 1933 champion Chicago Cougars, forced Brooklyn relief ace Del Lyons to pitch 3 innings in the all-star game. Lyons was lit up for 9 runs but the Kings were incensed, claiming Pozza had been paid off by Cleveland owner Elmer Marshall to overuse Lyons and Brooklyn catcher Fred Barrell, who played the entire game. The Foresters and Kings were in a spirited race for top spot in the Continental Association at the time and it just so happened that a key series between the two clubs took place immediately after the all-star game, one for which as it turned out Lyons would be unavailable to pitch. The game did make history as when Bobby Barrell of the Keystones led off the game he was facing three of his brothers with Tom on the mound, Fred behind the plate and Harry at shortstop marking a record 4 siblings competing on the all-star field at the same time. The record would last just 2 years as for the 1936 game all four were there again but joined by the fifth baseball playing Barrell as Dan was also in the Continental lineup, although in this case while all five did play, they did not all appear on the field at the same time. 1935 BROAD STREET PARK IN PHILADELPHIA: Federal Association 5 Continental Association 2 Little is remembered of the 1935 contest as it's boxscore did not survive. The Federal Association did win, for the third year in a row, with Art Myers of the Keystones earning the W while Brooklyn's Bert Henggeler took the loss. Don Attaway, another Keystones pitcher, picked up a save and Freddie Jones, thanks to a 3-run homer, was the MVP.1936 PIONEER FILED IN ST LOUIS: Continental Association 6 Federal Association 4 The game made history for two reasons. First the CA finally got a win and second, as previously mentioned, this game marked the first time 5 brothers had ever participated in a single big league contest as Brooklyn's Tom, Fred, Harry and Dan Barrell were joined in the game by the Keystones Bobby. Each of the position playing Barrell's had at least one hit in the game with Harry and Bobby getting 2 apiece. One of Bobby's knocks was a double off his brother Tom. The Continental side took the lead in the top of the first when they scored 3 runs thanks to a pair of doubles from Al Wheeler and Dick Walker. Moxie Pidgeon, now in the Federal Association with the New York Gothams, drove in Bobby Barrell in the bottom of the first to cut the CA lead to 3-1 but a Lou Williams RBI triple in the second restored the 3-run lead for the Continental nine. Bobby's double off of Tom scored Freddie Jones and cut the lead back to 2 runs but Harry put it away for the CA with a 2-run double of his own in the sixth inning. Tom Barrell got the win despite losing bragging rights to his brother Bobby with Rabbit Day taking the loss. Dick Walker of the Sailors was named the MVP. 1937 DOMINION FIELD IN TORONTO: Federal Association 4 Continental Association 2 (19 innings) Another milestone game as not only was it the first FABL All-Star game played outside of the United States but it also lasted a record 19 innings and took over 5 hours to complete. A capacity crowd of 37,592 - believed to be the most ever to attend a baseball game at Toronto's Dominion Stadium - witnessed an All-Star game that was truly worthy of the moniker classic. The visiting Feds took a quick lead on a rbi single from Pete Day to score Mel Carrol (who would go on to hit .407 that year) in the top of the first. It stayed 1-0 until the fifth inning when the Chiefs Al Miller walked George Dawson with one out. A sacrifice bunt and a Mike Taylor single later and the game was tied at 1. It would stay that way until the 19th inning. There were chances to end it before the 19th inning, certainly, such as when the Continental stars had a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the 18th but failed to bring a run in. In the top of the 19th Ken Mayhugh doubled off Walt Wells and moved to third on a Moxie Pidgeon ground out. The next man up, Jack Flint, singled in Mayhugh to break the tie and then Ed Stewart added insurance with a 2-run homer to put the Fed stars up 4-1. The insurance would prove necessary as the Continental side did not go quietly. They loaded the bases with one out and George Dawson singled in a run to cut the deficit to 2 and keep the rally going. However, the Feds went to their final pitcher - George M Brooks- and he saved the day by getting Jack Cleaves of the Sailors to hit into a game ending double play allowing everyone to finally go home. 1938 BIGSBY OVAL IN NEW YORK: Continental Association 5 Federal Association 4 (13 innings) For a while there was worry this game might last as long as the previous year's contest but in the end the Continental Association stars ended it in 13 innings, claiming a 5-4 victory thanks to Bob Smith's rbi double off Don Attaway in the top of the 13th to plate Adam Mullins and give the CA it's second win in the series. For Attaway, who was the winning pitcher and MVP of last year's marathon, the Keystones reliever became the first pitcher to be credited with both a win and a loss in all-star play. The story this year was Fred McCormick's CA debut. Traded from St Louis to Toronto just prior to the start of the season, McCormick had an incredible 1938 that included his first Whitney Award but before that he was the star of the all-star game. The 29 year old had 3 hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in 2 runs while scoring one himself to lead the way. McCormick also became the first player in all-star history to be on the winning side 5 times. He was with the Feds for four seasons, all wins, missing only the 1936 game in which the Fed lost before being traded to a CA club. 1939 FORESTER STADIUM IN CLEVELAND: Continental Association 6 Federal Association 3 Once more it was Fred McCormick leading the way as he became the first two-time All-Star Game MVP and helped propel the Continental nine to it's second straight victory. McCormick had 3 hits, a double and a pair of triples, for the second year in a row and once more drove in two runs and scored one himself. Another exile from the Federal Association, new Cleveland third sacker Mel Carrol, also had a big game at the plate for the winning side. The Feds actually opened the scoring when Gus Goulding surrendered a homerun to Sal Pestilli to lead off the third inning but McCormick evened things up with a triple in the home half to plate Sailor Bob Smith. A Joe Watson groundout would allow McCormick to score and the CA took the lead but it was short-lived. The Feds got to Goulding again in the fourth, scoring two more runs to go up 3-2 and it stayed that way until the bottom of the 7th when John Lawson's sacrifice fly plated Carrol to tie the ballgame. Could we have a third straight extra innings contest? The answer turned out to be no as veteran Dave Trowbridge scored Freddie Jones with a 2-out double off of Art Myers in the bottom of the eighth to put the CA in front. Mel Carrol would single in Trowbridge and McCormick would follow with a double off Charlie Stedman, who had relieved Myers, to plate Carrol and the lead was suddenly 6-3. Joe Hancock took care of the Federal hitters in the 9th to secure the victory for the Continental side. 1940 THOMPSON FIELD IN DETROIT: Federal Association 7 Continental Association 4 A late rally allowed the Federal stars to get back on the winning side of the ledger after losing each of the previous two games and three of the last four. It looked like the Continental boys might make it three in a row when they erupted for 4 runs in the top of the third inning off of Charlie Wheeler from the hometown Dynamos. It was many tiny cuts rather than one big blow as the CA strung together 4 singles and was aided by a free pass and a Lew McClendon error. The Feds were getting some hits but first Joe Hancock and then Cincinnati's Butch Smith escaped without surrendering a run over the first five innings. That changed in the bottom of the sixth when Deuce Barrell, making his all-star debut, surrendered a 3-run homer to Billy Woytek of the Keystones. It wasn't a bad outing for Deuce, just one bad pitch as an error by Fred McCormick prolonged the inning and allowed Woytek to come to the plate. Still leading 4-3, Dick Lyons took over for the 7th inning but after getting Red Johnson to ground out, the veteran surrendered back to back singles to Ron Rattigan and Hank Koblenz. That brought the Chiefs Bill May to the plate and the speedy centerfielder cleared the bases with a triple to put the Feds ahead 5-4. Red Johnson, the young Detroit slugger, would add a 2-run homer in the 8th inning to secure the Fed victory. 1941 KINGS COUNTY PARK IN BROOKLYN: Continental Association 8 Federal Association 4 Last year's game saw the offense come early as the Continental side took a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a pair of singles (off the bats of Dave Trowbridge and Adam Mullins) and a pair of walks issued by Fed starting pitcher Ed Wood. Pittsburgh slugger Mahlon Strong evened things up in the top of the second when he took Cincinnati's Butch Smith deep for a 2-run homer but the Continental nine took the lead for good in the bottom of the third inning. Three runs came in on three hits with the biggest damage done by another Cincinnati player as Fred Galloway hit a 2-run single and then came in to score when Skipper Schneider of the Chicago Cougars tripled. Schneider and his twin brother Buddy of the Boston Minutemen, who would meet in the World Championship Series just 3 months later, made history by becoming the first set of twins to ever play in an all-star game. Who knows, it may well be triplets one day as their other brother - pitcher Bart- is working his way up the Cleveland Foresters system. The Feds would cut the deficit to 5-3 when, following a pair of walks issued by Chuck Cole of the New York Stars, Gothams third baseman Billy Dalton provided an rbi single but Harry Barrell quickly restored the 3-run lead when the hometown star delighted the 32,000 who crowded into Kings County Ballpark with a double to plate Leo Mitchell in the home half of the fifth. The score would remain 6-3 until the top of the 8th when veteran Frank Vance hit a lead off double and scored on a ground out off the bat of Buddy Schneider making the score 6-4 for the CA but any thoughts of a Fed comeback quickly disappeared when the Cougars Leo Mitchell hit a two-run double in the bottom of the 8th. Brooklyn relief specialist Del Lyons, aided by a double play, took care of business in the top of the ninth to preserve the 8-4 win for the Continental stars and cut the Fed lead in the series to one at 5 wins to four. 1942 FITZPATRICK PARK IN PITTSBURGH: Federal Association 7 Continental Association 4 Hank Barnett homered twice to help the stars of the Federal Association top their Continental counterparts 7-4 in the 10th annual All-Star Game, held in Pittsburgh. The Continental Association never trailed in the game until the Fed stars broke the contest open with a 5-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth inning. The victory gives the Federal Association a 6-4 lead in the series. Both of Barnett's blasts were solo shots: in the second inning off of Continental starter Deuce Barrell and in the 6th against Chuck Cole of the New York Stats. The one in the sixth inning tied the game at 2 as the Continental side had opened a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Carlos Montes doubled in his Chicago Cougars teammates Harry Mead and Leo Mitchell. The score remained 2-2 until the top of the 8th inning when Bill Barrett and Mitchell got things started for the CA against Detroit's Fred Ratcliffe with back to back singles to open the inning. A sacrifice fly from Skipper Schneider would score Barrett to give the CA nine a 3-2 lead and after Mitchell doubled, Jim Hensley delivered an rbi single to score Mitchell and give the Continental Association a 4-2 lead. Billy Riley of the New York Stars took the mound for the CA in the bottom of the eighth but the first pitch he ever threw in an all-star contest was laced for a triple by Al Tucker of the St Louis Pioneers. Two pitches later Detroit's Sal Pestilli followed with a double and then George Cleaves delighted the hometown crowd as the Miners catcher tripled in Pestilli to tie the game at 4. Walks to Red Johnson and Barnett loaded the bases and ended Riley's day but not the Federal onslaught. George Hampton took over on the mound and promptly fanned Tommy Wilson for the first out but he then walked Jim Watson on 4 pitches to bring in what would prove to be the game winning run. Mule Monier would single in two more runs before the CA finally escaped the inning with a 6-4-3 double play. Suddenly trailing for the first time in the game, down 7-4, the CA went calmly in the 9th as Keystones pitcher Red Ross retired the side in order, getting a pair of ground outs with a strikeout of Lew Seals in between, and the Federal Association had it's victory. 1943 Parc Cartier in Montreal: Continental Association 7 Federal Association 3 The Continental Association once more pulled to within a win of tying the Feds in the overall All-Star Game standings thanks to a 7-3 victory. The big winner was baseball's Wartime Fund, as all of the proceeds were earmarked for sporting equipment that is to be delivered to soldiers around the globe and a packed house of 33,400 took in the nighttime spectacle at Montreal's Parc Cartier. A 4-run outburst by the Continental side in the 8th inning proved the difference. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning as starting pitchers Deuce Barrell of Cincinnati and Boston's Ed Wood did their jobs. Wood gave way to the Chiefs Al Miller in the third and the 27 year old righthander ran into a little trouble as Cleveland's Cal Howe hit a one-out single and moved to second when Cliff Moss reached on a Sam Orr error. Up to the plate strolled Dick Walker and the Cougars first baseman delivered a triple to plate both Howe and Moss, staking the Continental nine to a 2-0 lead in the process. The Feds had a chance to do some damage of their own in the top of the fourth but with 2-out and the sacks drunk with Fed baserunners, veteran Cougars hurler Dick Lyons got out of the trouble he created unscathed by getting Orr to fly out and end the threat. An error led to another run for the Continental side in the fifth when Henry Jones led off with a single off of the Pioneers Sam Sheppard and alertly scampered to second base when Boston's Pete Day bobbled the ball as he attempted to scoop it up. A balk by Sheppard advanced Jones to third and he scored to make it 3-0 on a Skipper Schneider sacrifice fly. The Feds finally broke the goose-egg in the top of the seventh with back to back singles from Pete Day and Sam Orr off of the Cannons Butch Smith. Detroit's George Dawson was up next and although he hit into a double-play it did allow Day to score and cut the deficit to 3-1. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning for the Chiefs Luis Sandoval, the Feds went right back to work with Gail Gifford, who had 4 hits on the day, lacing a lead-off triple off Toronto's Joe Hancock. Walt Messer of the Gothams followed with a single to plate Gifford and cut the Conti lead to 3-2 but that would prove to be as close as the Fed side would get on this day. The magic of the previous inning ran out quickly for Sandoval as Jim Hensley led off with a triple and scored when Marion Boismenu reached on a Frank Vance error -the 4th miscue of the game for the Feds. Fred Galloway ended Sandoval's evening with a single but the Gothams Ed Bowman, who came on in relief, had no better luck. Leo Mitchell laced a single to score Galloway and make the score 5-2 and the Continental side would add two more runs on a rbi single from Joe Hancock - the CA pitcher- and a run scoring double off the bat of Skipper Schneider. Trailing 7-2, the Feds did get one run back in the ninth inning but that was all they could manage off rookie Johnnie Jones of the Cougars, who finished off the game. Top player recognition went to Gail Gifford of the St Louis Pioneers, who had 4 hits in 5 trips to the plate while playing in his first all-star contest since 1937.
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports |
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11-02-2022, 12:32 PM
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#556 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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July 17, 1944 - All-Star Game, Panneton arrives and Boxing news joins TWIFB
JULY 17, 1944 FEDS WIN PITCHER DOMINATED ALL-STAR GAME The only run of the game was scored on a bases-loaded walk as the Federal Association squeezed out a 1-0 victory over their Continental counterparts in the 12th annual FABL All-Star Game before a capacity crowd of well over 41,000 at Washington's Columbia Stadium. The victory puts the Feds up 7 wins to 5 in the ongoing series between the two teams and denied the Continental stars a chance to pull even in the series for the first time. Each team managed just 4 hits in the contest and the only run came in the bottom of the third inning when Toronto lefthander Bernie Johnson -making his all-star debut at the age of 34- loaded the bases on singles by Lew McClendon and Johnny McDowell sandwiched around a walk to Don Miller. Johnson induced a fly out from Gail Gifford that was not deep enough for McClendon to tag but with two out and a full count on Luke Berry, Johnson missed with his offering to the Pittsburgh outfielder and the resulting free pass brought in what would prove to be the game's only run. This came after Doc Newell had surrendered just 1 hit -a Bobby Barrell single- in his two innings of work to start the game for the CA. Miller, of the hometown Washington Eagles, would stir the fans with a single of his own to lead off the 5th inning but he would advance no further and the Fed would not get another hit the rest of the way. As for the Continental Association -which has never been tied or ahead in victories in the series- their best chance to plate a run came in the opening inning. CA lead-off man Marion Boismenu of the Philadelphia Sailors started the game with a single off of Buddy Long, who got the call on the mound for the Fed nine. Hal Wood flew out and Leo Mitchell grounded out but Mitchell's ball did move Boismenu to second and the Sailors first baseman would advance to third on Hank Barnett's single. He would be stranded there as Cleveland's Lou Balk grounded out to end the inning. The Continental stars did not get another hit until Mitchell singled to start the seventh. He moved to third on a 1-out single by Balk but then Walt Wells of the Boston Minutemen settled down and fanned Toronto's Chink Stickels for out number two before getting an inning-ending fly out from Chicago Cougars catcher Harry Mead. The CA had one more base runner in the ninth with Washington's Kid Campbell walked Bill Watson to lead off the inning and moved to second on a long sacrifice fly but would get no further. NOTABLES:Washington's Don Miller, who hit a pinch-hit single during the Feds run scoring inning and walked twice, was named the player of the game. Ed Bowman was the winning pitcher after tossing two perfect innings in relief of Buddy Long while Toronto's Johnson was tagged with the loss....It was obviously the lowest scoring all-star game ever but also the first in which there were no extra base hits....The Federal stars had never scored less than 3 runs in a game until this one and the Continental side had always played at least 2 in every previous contest....Lowest scoring ASG prior to this one was 19 inning marathon won by the Feds in 1937 by a 4-2 score....Artie Mortimer of the New York Daily Mirror joked in the press box during that game that it should be called the 'Some Stars Game' with so many great players missing due to the war.  COUGARS COLLAPSE CONTINUES The only thing that seemingly prevented the slumping Chicago Cougars from dropping more than 2 games this week was the fact that they only played three times due to the All-Star break. The Cougars nightmare of a road trip continued with a stop in Brooklyn, where they dropped 2 of three to the last place Kings. The Cougars have won just 4 of their last 19 games and finally get to return home after a road trip that saw the Chicago Nine go 4-13 and saw their lead over Toronto go from 8 games down to just 3.5 in that stretch. The only good news is the Wolves also struggled during that period otherwise the CA might have a new leader right now. Philadelphia and Cincinnati were 15 and 17 games back when the Cougars went on the road. Now the Sailors are just 6.5 off the pace and Cincinnati is within 9 games as each has been very hot. Chicago is home finally, playing their next 19 games at Cougars Park, and hoping that will get them back on track. They have two days to lick their wounds and regroup before Cleveland comes to town for 3. After that there are some suddenly very important games for the Windy City crew as they will play 12 straight against the Sailors, Cannons and Wolves. ***KEYSTONES FEELING PRESSURE*** The Federal Association pennant race is still very crowded and the Boston Minutemen continue to worm their way into the middle of it. The Minutemen, who had a dreadful start to the season, took 3 of 4 from Philadelphia immediately following the break and are now just 3 games back of the first place Keystones. Boston is actually in 4th still in the Fed as the Chicago Chiefs and Pittsburgh Miners are both shoehorned into the middle of the first division pack. Even Detroit is continuing to stick around as the Dynamos -losers of 6 of 7 entering the break- beat St Louis 4 times in 5 contests last week and are back to within 7 games of the Fed lead. It appears that even with all of the disruptions to life and the sport by the war, one thing remains the same: The Federal Association will be a multi-team dogfight during the dog days of August.  COUGARS ADD RILEY IN DEAL WITH STARS The Chicago Cougars and New York Stars made their second deal in less than a month with the Stars moving veteran righthander Billy Riley (8-9, 3.62) west in exchange for a pair of prospects. The move is clearly an effort from Chicago to shake things up and get the club back on track after a record-setting pace to start the season has given way to one of the worst slumps in recent memory. However, it is also far more than that as Riley looks to be the perfect middle of the rotation arm -or better- for the next 5-7 years in the Windy City. Riley is a 7-year veteran who recently celebrated his 100th career victory but far from being old. He just turned 30 earlier this month and while he has had the occasional back problems, his pitching arm has been very durable. The Cougars pitching, so good to start the year, has hit a wall as Art White and Mike Murphy in particular have had a rough July. Going to New York in return will be a pair of arms ranked just outside the top 100 by OSA. Both lefthander Bill Chapman and righty Foster Smith are 20 years old. Chapman,a regional round pick in 1942, was 7-5 with a 4.56 era at Class A Linclon this season and is projected as a back of the rotation big league arm. Smith was selected in the 6th round out of a North Carolina high school and split 1942 between Class C and B, going 2-2 in 11 starts. Selective Service called his number just prior to the start of spring training 1943 and he joined the Army Air Corps, where he has been ever since. JIGGS McGEE'S TAKE -A great pickup for the Cougars and it did not cost any of their high end young arms. They have more than enough young pitchers to be able to part with a pair of decent (but not outstanding) prospects and Riley is a proven big league arm with plenty of pitches left in it. He could well spend the better part of the next decade in the Chicago rotation and in the short-term perhaps this move might just be enough to shake the Cougars out of their funk. On the New York side, while I like the prospects although I do think a lot more of Chapman than Smith, one has to wonder if it was worth it giving up a solid dependable 30 year old -one who should still be a very good rotation piece- when stars like Bill Barrett and Joe Angevine return from the war and the Stars might just be the team to beat. My thinking is you traded away 5-10 years of Billy Riley for two youngsters who -if you are lucky- one might develop into a Bill Riley type arm. PANNETON ERA IS HERE So much for Eli Panneton's underwhelming performance in small college ball at Aberdeen College. The 22 year old Winnipeg native looked right at home in his professional debut, posting a dominating performance in a complete game 8-0 shutout of the Montreal Saints. The 22 year old looked like a grizzled veteran and not a raw rookie who had just 1 season of small school college ball and no minor league experience at all under his belt. Panneton fanned 8 and did not walk a single Montreal batter while scattering just 4 hits in the game. Years from now when, if he meets the lofty expectations, we are looking back on an outstanding career, it should be remembered that, after getting all-star Jake Hughes to fly out on a full count pitch against his first big league hitter, Panneton followed that up with his first big league strikeout, fanning Bernie Green. He retired the first 8 Saints in order before Montreal pitcher Jackie James -also a rookie- hit a single. The Stars were already ahead 5-0 at that point and Panneton simply refocused and fanned Hughes to end the inning. He would retire the next 12 batters as well so just the one hit through 7 innings of work. The Saints got two singles off Panneton in the eighth inning but the rookie escaped and after allowing one last hit - a Hughes single to lead off the ninth- he struck out the last two batters he faced to complete the shutout. Yes Stars fans. If one game is any indication the future is suddenly much brighter for the New York Continentals. 200TH FOR JOHNSON His goal at twenty was to win twenty games one year, pitch until he was thirty, win the league pennant and to make some real money. Well, Karl Johnson did something even better -the 36 year old Pittsburgh Miners star has now won 200 FABL games in his career. That put him in a very select group of pitchers. Johnson joined the exclusive club Saturday at Columbia Stadium by whipping the Washington Eagles 13-2. It wasn't pretty as Johnson allowed 13 hits and walked two but he got the job done and that has been the story of a career in which he mostly flew under the radar. He began in Cleveland, debuting as a 22 year old for the Foresters before being traded to Washington in the famous deal that brought T.R. Goins and a World Championship to the shores of Lake Erie. Five years later he was moved to Pittsburgh and finally got his pennant, pitching in a pair of WCS for the Miners. Along the way he has fashioned a 200-186 career record and won at least 20-games twice -for Washington in 1937 and Pittsburgh in 1939. Yet he has never made an all-star team and never finished even in the running for an Allen Award. Never really a team's number one option but Johnson has been a steady, efficient middle of the road starter for going on a decade and a half and now he is the 51st pitcher to collect 200 big league victories.  Carroll has been a terrific pitcher when he is healthy but the 26 year old has been injured for 24 of the past 48 months and now will miss the rest of this season after tearing up his shoulder for the second time in three years. An immensly talented righthander, who was selected first overall out of Richmond State in the 1939 draft, Carroll is 30-19 with a sparkling 2.85 era as a Cannon, but missed nearly all of the 1941 season, half of the 1942 campaign and now -after leaving Saturday's game against the Sailors- will miss the back half of this season. His one fully healthy season -and it wasn't even that as Carroll had several nagging injuries last year - he went 13-7 with a 2.40 era and helped the Cannons win a World Championship. But now, with a second serious problem with his shoulder on top of over a year recovering from elbow woes his rookie year, one has to wonder if Carroll will be the same pitcher when he returns. It is becoming an all too familiar story for the Cannons as with Carroll and Barrell both suffering multiple serious injuries. Even Bill Sohl -the other piece of the Holy Trinity of high draft pick pitchers- has had his battle with the injury bug and perhaps has only remained healthy because instead of dealing with the strain of throwing a baseball every fourth or fifth day Sohl has been helping whip Navy recruits into fighting shape in his native Oregon. The Carroll injury makes the deal that sent Billy Dalton to Boston for prize pitching prospect Bob Arman suddenly seems even more important to the Cannons future. *** A Wonderful Acquisition *** Cannons supporters are positively giddy this morning as news broke that the legendary Al 'Wonder Wheel' Wheeler is coming to town. And the price was just a seventh round draft pick but that, perhaps, is indicitive of just how far Wheeler has fallen. He does have 10 homers this season but is slashing just .219/.319/.340 and has not hit a longball since June 10 -a span of 132 at bats- yet just over a year ago the Chiefs dealt highly touted youngsters Joe Rutherford, Mel Haynes and Bob Crowley to Brooklyn for Wheeler and veteran pitcher Bob Cummings. Wheeler's arrival could not be timed better for Cannons manager Ad Doria, who was searching for options after Rufus Daniels' bat has gone ice-cold after a pretty solid start to the season. The plan was to try 40 year old Henry Jones in leftfield but he would need a walker to cover any ground at all out there. Wheeler is not a huge upgrade with the glove, but certainly a fair better option that Jones and will go to right field with Sam Brown shifting to the left side of Bob Griffith. *** Survived Philly, Bring On The Next Test *** The Cannons are somehow just 9 games out of first place as the Chicago Cougars implosion continued last week. The other hot CA team of late has been the Philadelphia Sailors and the pair met for 4 games at Tice Memorial following the All-Star Game. Neither could gain the upper hand as they split the series and now the Cannons embark on a 20-game road swing that will include a big 4-game series in Chicago starting a week from tomorrow. Another big showing -and if the Cougars continue to struggle- and the Cannons might just be part of a pennant race. Nearly impossible to believe when they were 17.5 games out not all that long ago.
 Here is a quick note on where each of the three weight classes stand right now: AMERICAN BOXING FEDERATION (1907-present) The main governing body is the American Boxing Federation, which readers of the Ballad of Barrells might remember took steps to organize the sport back in 1907. It is the one we will recognize as the the organization that determines who the World and American champions are but there are other rival organizations we may hear about. HEAVYWEIGHT - World Champion Hector Sawyer 49-3-1 (44) Hector Sawyer is a New Orleans born fighter who is 49-3-1 and won the World Championship belt with a 15th round knock out of German strongman Jochen Schrotter (48-2) on January 15, 1940 in Detroit. The Cajun Crusher, as Sawyer is known as, would make one title defense the following December in New York, scoring a 9th round TKO of American Mark Dyer (33-5-2) but did not fight in 1941 as promoters were trying to arrange either a rematch with Schrotter or a fight against British Champion Leo Carmichael (28-4-1). Neither occurred because of the war in Europe and Sawyer was inactive all of 1941 although he did have a title fight scheduled for December 13, 1941 at the Bigsby Garden in New York City against Allen Watson, an up and coming 22 year old who was 17-0. Most felt it was too big of a jump for the Brooklyn born southpaw, but we never found out as the bout was cancelled after the attack on Pearl Harbor and Watson, who had a close friend parish in Hawaii, quickly joined the Navy. Watson, as it turned out, would never fight professionally again after sustaining a serious leg injury in 1943 while serving in the Pacific. Sawyer would eventually join the Army and, while he would participate in some exhibition fundraiser, he has not fight professionally since. MIDDLEWEIGHT- World Champion Archie Rees 33-4-1 (24) The late 1930s saw Spanish fighter Jorge Cuellar rise to be the best in the middleweight division. Cuellar is now 35 years old and sports a 42-1-2 career record but he has not fought since 1940 and was stripped of his title that year when he said he was retired. As a result in September of 1941 British champion Archie Rees - who had been trying for two years to get a title shot against Cuellar- was paired with American Nathan Sears by the ABF to fill the vacant world title. Rees won easily with a second round knockout as Sears, age 32 but with only 18 professional fights under his belt (was 17-1 entering the bout) was clearly overmatched. Rees, known in his native England as The Tadcaster Thunderbolt improved to 33-4-1 with the knockout and has held the title ever since, but has not fought since aside from military exhibitions and is part of the British armed forces. WELTERWEIGHT - World Champion: vacant The welterweight crown has been vacant since early 1939 when British born but New York City trained Jimmy 'Kid' Simpson retired at the age of 37 with a 59-2-0 career record. There were plans to stage a playoff of sorts among the top contenders but with many of them being European at the time it never happened due to the war. Dennis O'Keefe (17-1) is considered the top American born welterweight at the moment but he, like most of the top professional boxers, is in the Army and while he has fought a number of fundraising exhibitions the Jacksonville, Florida native has not had an official sanctioned bout since the fall of 1941. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 7/16/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 02-06-2023 at 06:25 PM. |
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11-03-2022, 12:24 PM
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#557 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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July 24, 1944
JULY 24, 1944 WOLVES CATCH COUGARS FOR TOP SPOT IN CA Chicago on 6-19 Swoon, Squanders 10 Game Lead in Month What a difference a month makes! On June 24th the Chicago Cougars were 50-18, on a record setting pace with a .735 winning percentage and enjoying a 10 game lead on the second place Toronto Wolves with the Philadelphia Sailors 15 games off the lead and the defending champion Cincinnati Cannons 17 back. Today, that lead over Toronto is gone as Chicago won just 6 times in their last 25 contests -an abysmal .240 winning percentage- and now tied with the Wolves for top spot at a .602 winning percentage. Technically because of games played - Chicago has played 93 and Toronto just 88- the Cougars still have a half game bulge despite being slightly behind on winning percentage. The Continental Association -thought a month ago to have little chance at a pennant race - suddenly is a four team battle as the Wolves are not the only team to make up a lot of ground. The Philadelphia Sailors have won 18 of their last 24 games including two of three over the weekend in Chicago, and have gained 11 games in the past month to now sit just 3.5 games off the lead while the Cincinnati Cannons -17 games back and seemingly out of it a month ago- are within 6 games following a stretch that saw the Queen City Nine go 21-7. This is a very big week for the Cougars, who halted a 4-game slide with a 6-0 win over Philadelphia in the second game of yesterday's twin-bill. The Windy City Kitties have one more with Philadelphia today before they host Cincinnati and Toronto four times each in the lead-up to the July 31 trade deadline. Speaking of trades, Chicago will have Bill Riley available this week after the newest Cougar completed his journey from New York and joined the team yesterday. It could not have come at a better time as the Cougars pitching is reeling. Art White won his first ten starts and made the All-Star team for the 4th time in his career but since June 21 he is 2-5 with a 6.03 era. Mike Murphy is even worse at 0-4 with a 6.60 era since the slide began. The Chicago offense has not been that bad, but most are performing below the lofty expectations set by their terrific start. Two that do stand out for the wrong reasons are centerfielder Orlin Yates -who was hitting just .218 on the year and only .192 this month- and rightfielder Rich Langton, who is batting just .143 in July. Yates is on the trade block and seems likely to be at the very least benched if not dealt and Langton might be in jeopardy of losing his part in the platoon with Cliff Moss, who has been the Cougars most reliable hitter during this awful stretch. *** Keystones Take 6 of 7 in Western Swing *** While the Continental race has been tightening up the Philadelphia Keystones have been doing everything in their power to take all the suspense away from the Federal Association pennant chase. The Keystones swept a 3-game set in Chicago -handing the Windy City more heartache- and dropped the Chiefs out of second place. Philadelphia has won 16 of it's last 25 games and now leads Boston- which went 4-3 on it's western swing with one more game left in St Louis today- by 5 games. That 5 game bulge atop the table is the largest any team in the Fed has enjoyed this season.  1945 DRAFT PREVIEW PART 1: COLLEGE PLAYERS The ink is not yet dry on the pro contracts of some of the 1944 draft selections, but scouts across FABL have already turned their attention to fully focus on the 1945 crop of young talent. TWIFB does the same as we begin our annual summer preview of the following years draft with a look at the top college talent available in January. Nearly a year ago, when TWIFB took it's annual look at the class a year and a half out it seemed like '45 would be a pretty solid year for college talent. Three of our top five players on the way to early mock draft were collegiate athletes and in all 7 of the 16 that comprised our mock first round were from the college ranks. Interestinly none of them were pitchers in the group that consisted of 3 outfielders, 3 infielders and a catcher. Here is a quick look at where those players that include Christian trophy winner Bob Riggins from national champion Grange College as well as fellow 1944 All-Americans Johnny Peters and Harry Finney. Code:
HOW THE COLLEGE PLAYERS FARED ON OUR WAY TOO EARLY 1945 MOCK DRAFT (August 1943) # NAME AGE POS SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT 2 JOHNNY PETERS 19 CF Liberty College Lawrenceburg, TN potential elite CF on contending team 4 BOB RIGGINS 19 CF Grange College Detroit, MI elite starting CF 5 HARRY FINNEY 19 SS Bluegrass State Tulsa, OK tools to profile as premier SS 7 IVEY HENLEY 19 1B Jersey City Tech Brooklyn, NY impact big league 1B 11 VIC LEBLANC 19 3B St Blane College Cape Girardeau, MO talent to flourish as a 3B 14 CLAUDE CLEMONS 19 CF San Francisco Tech San Francisco, CA above average big league CF 15 JOHN MANSFIELD 20 C Maryland State Newark, NJ second division starter at C #1 - BOB RIGGINS CF: Grange College -The 20 year old Detroit native entered the season with high expectations after leading the entire AIAA in batting average as a freshman and earning first team All-American status as well as being a finalist for the Christian Trophy. Riggins certainly lived up to them by hitting .333 just 3 points off his AIAA leading total of a year ago- and led Grange College to it's first National Championship since 1934. Riggins was again an All-American and won the Christian Trophy this time around as a sophomore and stands a pretty good chance of being one of the few college players to be named First Team All-Americans three times. Code:
THREE TIME FIRST TEAM AIAA ALL-AMERICANS Vic Crawford 1927-29 Commonwealth Catholic Bill Moore 1930-32 Lubbock State Sal Pestilli 1934-36 Narragansett Jack Wilson 1940-42 North Carolina Tech Bucky Sheffer 1941-43 Miami State #2 HARRY FINNEY SS: Bluegrass State - The Tulsa native was #3 out of college players and 5th overall on our "Way Too Early" mock from last August and improved in all facets of the game this season, hitting .310 with a homerun and 38 rbi's while swiping 39 bases. OSA raves about his speed and his defense while also noting he has above average contact skills with a smooth swing. The scouting service feels Finney can be a star caliber shortstop one day. He was named as a first team All-American last month. #3 JOHNNY PETERS CF: Liberty College - Peters was #2 overall and the top college player on our mock last August. He certainly did nothing to slide down -it was more a matter of just how impressive Riggins and Finney were. The Lawrenceburg, Tn. native slashes .322/.438/.556 and was a first team All-American selection for the second year in a row. OSA sees Peters as a potential elite center fielder on a contending team and it could be interesting to compare how he and Riggins develop as pros. #4 OTIS PORTER RHP: Grange College -The other half of the sensational sophomore duo that carried Grange College to a national title, Parker, who hails from Augusta, Ga., was a first team All-American and a finalist for the Christian Trophy after going 8-2 with a .245 era for the Mustangs. It was his first year pitching in the college ranks and he immediately jumped to the top of what looks like it might be a thin crop of college arms. Nicknamed "Professor" due to his skills in the classroom (although scouts disagree whether those academic skills will translate into the game) OSA feels he could end up as a #1 or #2 starter in the big leagues. #5 IVEY HENLEY 1B: Jersey City Tech: Originally a Detroit Dynamos 8th round pick out of high school, Henley chose the college route instead and it will likely pay off in the long run as he should get drafted much earlier this time around. He lacks the true power of some of the other top college first baseman (most notably the aptly named Nate Power) but did smack 7 longballs last season while hitting .298. The Brooklyn born 20 year old possesses above-average contact potential and perhaps might remind some of a former Kings selection who turned into a dominant player with the Chicago Chiefs in the form of Ron Rattigan. #6 GEORGE PENZA SS: Yellowhammer State: The Waco, Tx. native is overshadowed by Harry Finney but did earn a nod for the second team All-American squad after a .278,9,47 season. While 9 homeruns sound very impressive for a college shortstop, it is the contact skills, speed and defensive prowess that has OSA scouts raving about Penza. #7 PETE BUTLER RHP: Oklahoma City State: The numbers were not overally impressive (6-7, 4.00, with 107 K's and 61 BB in 19 starts) but OSA feels Butler can be an above average starter once he finishes developing. He is one that TWIB feels has the potential to be a disappointment if a team uses a first round selection on the Lincoln, Ne. native. #8 CLAUDE CLEMONS CF: San Francisco Tech: There have been some pretty good first and second round picks come out of San Francisco with Joe Masters, Clark Car and Jackie Marshall leading the way but the best comparision for Clemons is another San Francisco native by the name of Sam Brown. Clemons seems to have much the same skills as the former Washington Eagles/current Cincinnati Cannons star. OSA sees Clemons, who plays the saxaphone in his spare time, as an above average, everyday big league player. #9 LEN HARRINGTON CF: Eastern State : It does appear to be a pretty good year for college centerfielders with Harrington being the 4th one on our list. He was born in Elmira, NY but grew up in Athens, Pa. where the Philadelphia Keystones spotted him and selected him in the 19th round out of high school. Their loss was Eastern State's gain, and Harrington had a very strong season in 1943 for the Monitors but struggled somewhat last year. A solid defender, OSA feels he has a good, compact swing that allows him to spray the ball around the field. The scouting service must see a big jump coming from Harrington as he stats are underwhelming compared to many on this list. #10 HANK SMITH 1B: Talmadge State: Tremendous work ethic and elite hitter are the first few words of any scout's tongue when discussing the 20 year old from Lockwood, Ohio. Nicknamed 'Popeye' because of his physique, the 6', 200 pounder hit .325 with 12 homers -3rd most in the AIAA last season. He was a second team All-American and along with first teamer Nate Power of Daniel Boone College and our #5 prospect Ivey Henley, gives this draft class some very good hitting first baseman to look at. What may seperate Smith from the other two is his tremendous work ethic. HONOURABLE MENTION Nate Power 1B Daniel Boone College Del Johnson 2B West Goshen State Jake Pomarico CF Detroit City College Ben McCarty RF New Castle State In part two of TWIFB 1945 Draft Preview we will look at the top High School position players.
AROUND THE LEAGUE Here is a look at how all of the first round picks for each club are faring now that they have all signed pro contracts. BOSTON- No first rounder this year. Traded to Brooklyn. BROOKLYN- 18 year old SS Nick Remillard is hitting .244 after two weeks in Marshalltown (Class C). Ed Duncan, a centerfielder selected 15th with a pick acquired from Boston, made his Class C debut last week, going 7-for-22 (.318) with 5 runs scored. Remillard is presently ranked 20th by OSA and Duncan 54th. CHIEFS- No first rounder this year. Pick is with Detroit. COUGARS- The Cougars selected Chicago-born high schooler Bert Rogers with the 12th pick. The 17 year old lefthander has made 3 starts in Class C with La Crosse and is 0-2 with a 3.91 era, walking 12 and fanning 8 in 25 innings of work. OSA has him ranked 68th overall on it's list. CINCINNATI- No first rounder this year. Pick went to Washington. CLEVELAND- The Foresters selected catcher Joe Robinson second overall and the 17 year old is ranked a disappointing 289th by OSA. He made his pro debut at Class C Ottumwa, going 4-for-20 with a triple in 6 games last week. DETROIT- The Dynamos had 4 first rounders (plus two early in the second round)thanks to trades and landed a boatload of talent. There were two pitchers in first overall Roy Schaub and 9th selection Carl Potter as well as centerfielder Edwin Hackberry, selected 3rd, and shortstop Stan Kleminski, taken 7th. All four cracked the OSA top twenty prospects as the league scouting service lists Hackberrry as the number 1 prospect in the sport right now while Kleminski is ranked 7th overall, Potter 12th and Schaub 18th. The quartet are scattered throughout the Dynamos farm system. Top pick Schaub is in Class C, where he has made two starts and is 1-0 with a 1.56 era. Potter has been signed a little longer and the 18 year made two starts at Class A before being moved up to AA Akron. He struggled a bit in his debut for the Wheels, allowing 6 runs and 10 hits in 5 innings of work but a positive is Potter did not walk anyone. Hackberry is in Chattanooga and has now spent two weeks with the Class B Southeastern League club, hitting .245 but 4 of his 13 hits so far are of the extra-base variety. Finally Kleminski is at Class A Terre Haute and looks to be soon to follow Potter up a level as the 17 year old shortstop is batting .280 with 10 rbi's and 8 extra base hits in 11 games while also playing very sold defense. MONTREAL- With the 8th pick the Montreal Saints selected pitcher Ted Coffin. He was signed on July 13 and sent to Class C Dubuque but as of yet has not appeared in a minor league game. OSA slots Coffin in at #29 on their top prospect list. NY STARS- All 4th overall pick Eli Panneton has done was throw a shutout in his pro debut -which came in the big leagues with the Stars against Montreal. He followed that up with two more complete game victories including another shutout -this one by a 1-0 score over Cleveland. So he is 3-0 and rather than look to the top prospect list we look at OSA's assessment of the top big leaguers to find Panneton, who at the tender age of 22 with 3 big league starts (and a 0.33 era) is considered the third best pitcher in all of baseball and number one if you take out those that are currently serving their country. NY GOTHAMS- No first rounder this year. Gothams pick went to Detroit in Red Johnson trade. KEYSTONES- The Keystones selected Ben Thompson, an outfielder who won the Adwell Award his junior year of high school, with the 11th pick. Just recently signed, Thompson hit .318 in his first week of pro ball at Class C Beaumont of the Gulf States League. OSA slots Thompson in at #103 on it's prospect list. SAILORS- The Sailors selected high school centerfielder George Rutter with the 10th pick and he is ranked 17th on the OSA prospect list. He is struggling in his first week of minor league ball, going 4-for-21 at Class C Gulfport of the Gulf States League. PITTSBURGH- With the fifth overall pick the Miners selected slugging first baseman Jim Flowers. He is also now in the Gulf States League -at Jackson- and in 13 games for the Jumpers is still looking for his first pro homerun after hitting 10 for his high school club this season, but is having some success hitting at a .297 clip. OSA puts Flowers at #13 on it's prospect pipeline and number two among first baseman behind only 21 year of Bill Barnett of the New York Stars and the US Navy. ST LOUIS- The Pioneers first rounder was Dave McCraw, a high school shortstop out of New York City who was selected 13th overall. McCraw had a solid debut week as a pro at Moline of the Class C Upper Mississippi Valley Association, batting .429 (12-for-28) in 7 games including a 3-hit outing in a 7-6 win over La Crosse and Cougars first rounder Bert Rogers yesterday. OSA places McCraw 145th on it's top prospect tally. TORONTO- The Wolves picked 14th and went with high school catcher Cal Yeager. The 18 year old is presently #185 on the OSA prospect list but has been very good in 8 games with Class C Tuscaloosa. He has had two 3-hit games already in his 7 starts for the Tomcats, and Yeager is slashing .379/.400/.414 after a week of pro ball. WASHINGTON- The Eagles own first round was traded to Detroit but they did have the final pick of the opening round which came from Cincinnati as part of the Sam Brown trade. Washington selected shortstop Jim Sibert out of Amarillo Methodist -only the second college player taken in the opening round- and Sibert just agreed to a deal with the Eagles earlier this week. Washington has not yet announced at which level he will begin his pro career and he sits 46th on the OSA prospect rankings list. HIGH OPTIMISM REIGNS AS COLLEGE GRID LEADERS FINISH CONFERENCE Nothing extraordinary came out of the two-day conclave of the Association of College Football Commissioners at the Statler Hotel in Washington, unless the considered opinion of the solons that "this season will see some of the hottest competition the game has known: be rated as such. Emphasizing that their organization exists for the purpose of keeping the rules in Nation-wide uniformity and standardizing college grid officiating, the commissioners added nothing new to the 1944 game as some fans expected them to do. Additions to the rules to give the collegiate game the spectacular flavor of professional football were not discussed. Rather, the main job the organization did in the conferences was to lay down some hard and fast regulations to keep the present form of the rah-rah game standard wherever it is to be played this year. The commissioners also took steps to insure proper officiating at the contests. Optimism was the keynote of the affair, with the South Atlantic Conference representative declaring that his member schools this year "will be very evenly matched and play should be fast and furious." The Plains Athletic Association said his conference will present the closest-matched elevens in it's history and Daniel Boone College's complete dominance of the section may be at its end. There is good news from Texas as well as the Southwestern Association expect to return to a nearly full complement of a schools participate in 1944, although there is a slight concern about Lubbock State having enough players to field a team.  ARMY SOURCE INDICATES MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT IN THE WORKS For the first time since before the attack on Pearl Harbor it appears a World Title boxing match will take place. A highly placed source within the United States Army indicates plans are close to being finalized that will see a boxing card in September that will include World Middleweight Champion Archie Rees defend his title in a bout sanctioned by the American Boxing Federation. It will be part of a slate being finalized to take place likely in the London area, but perhaps in northern England or Scotland, and staged for the benefit of military morale. The plan is to fill the crowd primarily with wounded soldiers, sailors and avaitors presently recovering in Britain. The source says the event -one of many military exhibitions being staged regularly- will go on regardless if ABF sanction is received or not, but it is indicated the boxing branch is fully supportive of the idea as long as Rees and his opponent are given sufficient time away from their military duties to properly train and prepare for a 15 round title fight. Most of the exhibitions over the past couple of years, in which Rees has fought several, have been restricted to 6 or 8 rounds and without the involvement of the ABF. Rees was declared World Middleweight Champion by the ABF after beating American Nathan Sears in September of 1941. That was the last time a World Title Fight under the ABF's watch was contested. Heavyweight champ Hector Sawyer had been set to defending his world title against Allen Watson in December of 1941, but the bout was quickly cancelled following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Since then the vast majority of the top fighters have joined the war effort and few ABF sanctioned fights have occured in the past three years. Rees, who is 33-4-1 for his career, is expected to face American Willie Binion (13-3), a Fairfield, CT native who is presently in the Navy, in the title fight although there is some concern that pitting an Brit against an American may do more harm than good for Allied morale. There is also some speculation that Spaniard Jorge Cuellar, who had the title stripped from him in 1939 when he announced his retirement, might be the opponent. If so having Cuellar finally face Rees in a bout that the Tadcaster Thunderbolt's camp spent nearly two years trying to line up would be a major news event and bring the ABF back to prominence. Cuellar has not fought since 1940 but is said to have started training again recently. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 7/23/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 11-03-2022 at 12:38 PM. |
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11-04-2022, 12:48 PM
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#558 |
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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July 31, 1944 Trade Deadline Is Here
JULY 31, 1944 CANNONS ADD BIRD AND DAY AT DEADLINE The Continental Association race just became even more interesting after the Cincinnati Cannons added the best catcher active in the game right now and a 300-game winner who looks like he might still have a little something left in the tank. The Chicago Chiefs, seeing the Philadelphia Keystones riding further and further off in the distance, decided to waive the white flag for this season and look to the future. The deal, which both sides report came about quickly on the eve of the trade deadline sees 36 year old Tom Bird (.343,11,43) and 40 year old Rabbit Day (12-8, 3.42) leave Chicago and head to Cincinnati in exchange for 22 year old rookie pitcher Frank Sears (2-0, 3.15) and 22 year old outfield prospect Dick Blaszak, who has spent the past two years in the Marines but is considered one of the most explosive power-hitting prospects to come along in years. "We are suddenly in this thing (the pennant race) and felt it made sense to make this deal," explained Cannons Assistant General Manager Red Franklin. "Tom Bird is the best catcher in the sport and Rabbit Day is....well, Rabbit Day. You won't find many better at his age." The Cannons have fired back into the Continental Association pennant race and are coming off a series in which they took three of four games from the slumping Chicago Cougars. Cincinnati has made up 13 games in the standings in just over a month and are suddenly in a position where they can become the first CA team to repeat as pennnant winners since the Brooklyn Kings won three straight from 1936-38. The Continental race will be a dogfight with 4 teams now separated by just 4.5 games. This is astonishing when you consider that just a few short weeks ago the title had all but been conceeded to the Chicago Cougars when they had a double-digit lead on the rest of the loop. *** A Return Home, of Sorts, For Day *** The trade brings Rabbit Day back to the organization he started his big league career with way back in 1927. So much has changed with the Cannons since then -most notably they now reside in Cincinnati instead of Baltimore- but for the 40 year old Day his career comes full circle. He has had a terrific season this year with a 12 more wins to pad his total to 315, and it is even more special when one considers there was much speculation that Day would retire over the winter after struggling through what many consider to be the worst season of his career in 1943. Day is an important acquistion, but it is Tom Bird that is clearly the key to the trade for Cincinnati. The Cannons lost Adam Mullins to the war effort after a Whitney Award winning season and now they have replaced him with one of the few catchers that might just be as good, or even better, than Mullins. Bird has never won a Whitney but does own a WCS MVP award and 9 all-star appearances. Durability might be a concern as he is showing signs of breaking down but that has not slowed his bat as when he is healthy Bird is still one of the most dangerous hitters in the league. The Cannons offense has struggled at times, and Bird was clearly the best possible addition they could make to improve it. Now the question comes is that enough to win a pennant and make the hefty price worth it. Blaszak is by all accounts one of the best power hitting prospects the game has ever seen. He is cut from the Red Johnson cloth and may just have more power than the Gothams slugging first baseman. The concern is because of the war he has not played in 2 years and has never played above the Class B level but OSA loves his skillset and the Chiefs are confident he will be a huge hit in Chicago where his nickname "The Polish Hammer" immediately makes him a fan favourite. ***Several Minor Deals Made As Trade Deadline Closes In *** Chicago added pitcher Billy Riley from the New York Stars a week ago and that seemed to spur Cincinnati into action as the Cannons -dealing with season ending injuries to Deuce Barell and Vic Carroll- added pitchers Jim Crawford from Brooklyn and George DeForest from Detroit. After the big series win over Chicago the Cannons had an informal discussion with the Chiefs brass and it quickly snowballed into a major trade. One which further complicates a suddenly surprising CA picture. Prior to the blockbuster deal between Cincinnati and the Chicago Chiefs the big story of the trade deadline appeared to be the lack of big name movement. Sure the Chiefs dealt Al Wheeler, the Cannons sent Billy Dalton packing and the Cougars acquired Billy Riley but that was barely a ripple compared to the tidal wave of trades last summer. It was almost a disappointment -until the big Day and Bird deal- that little was happening despite plenty of speculation -most of it out of Detroit- that the Dynamos were prepared to make another big splash and send Sal Pestilli packing. Of course with Pestilli in the armed forces for the duration there is far less urgency on Detroit's part- or any potential suitor- to get a deal done today. The Chicago Cougars were somewhat busy with a pair of moves to follow up the deal they made a week ago to bring veteran pitcher Billy Riley in from New York. First the Cougars sent veteran outfielder Dan Fowler to the Chicago Chiefs in exchange for the rights to young pitcher Howard Miller Jr., who is presently in the Army. Then the Cougars sent AAA first baseman Cuno Meyer to Detroit in exchange for a 7th round pick. Detroit was also involved in one of the other two trades, which both included Cincinnati adding pitchers. First the Cannons added 35 year old George DeForest from Detroit in exchange for 40 year old outfielder Henry Jones and a 9th round draft pick. Then the Cannons added another veteran arm in Jim Crawford, who heads west from Brooklyn in exchange for a 5th round draft choice. A Cougars spokesman explained the trade of Dan Fowler makes room for 22-year-old Don Lee to make his big league debut, as team hopes "Rap" can spark some life back into a struggling Cougar squad. A hard worker and team leader, the former 2nd Rounder is the brother of enlisted Sailors shortstop Rip Lee. In 79 games with AAA Milwaukee, Lee has hit an outstanding .288/.424/.465 (151 OPS+) with 20 doubles, 6 triples, 7 homers, 15 steals, and 45 RBIs, while sporting a 73-to-29 walk-to-strikeout ratio. He's not nearly as good on the grass as Orlin Yates, but he offers plenty more at the plate, and will take a majority of the starts against lefties. Lee currently ranks as the 7th best prospect in the Cougars organization and 95th overall The Cannons preliminary moves were made because of the injuries to ace Deuce Barrell as well as another solid starter in Vic Carroll. The club was happy to grant veteran Henry Jones his wish to finish out his career in Detroit -where it all started for the 40 year old outfielder but the truth is there was no way the Cannons could play Jones and the recently acquired Al Wheeler in the same outfield together. Jones is having a good year -hitting .294 with 5 homers but would have been restricted to pinch-hitting duties with Cincinnati the rest of the way and he is batting just .188 with 0 HR in 32 pinch-hit ABs this season. George DeForest is 35 but having a decent season when used carefully in Detroit. He likely will continue as a swing man in Cincinnati as the Cannons hope that Crawford (7-11, 3.87) can step into the #3 spot in the rotation for the rest of the year. Both Crawford and DeForest are very familiar to the Cannons brass and add to the growing collection of players who were acquired or drafted by the Cannons General Manager when he was in Brooklyn. JOHN BRINKER'S TAKE ON THE BIG DEAL- I would say this about the deal - it really boils down to Bird & Blaszak. Day & Sears are about equal in ability right now, but obviously Day's old and Sears is young. So the Chiefs accomplish their presumed goal of getting a great young player in Blaszak (assuming he comes back from the war without deleterious effect) and replace an aged slightly-below average arm with a young slightly-below average arm. This move is obviously all future for the Chiefs and is therefore a gamble. Blaszak should be a cornerstone player. The mitigating factor for him is that he is currently in the Marine Corps - and fighting in the Pacific - not holding down a cushy stateside job training recruits how to do jumping jacks (they don't give those jobs to Class B ballplayers). Sears is a bit of a flier - he's looked pretty good so far, but likely needs a bit of developmental luck to really be a big pickup long-term. On the Cannons' side of the ledger this is a splashy move bringing in two future Hall-of-Famers for a short-term boost now that the Continental Association is once again competitive. Bird is a big pickup. With Mullins serving Uncle Sam, Bird brings a big bat and a bigger resume to the catching position in Cincinnati. And Rabbit Day? Sure, he's not what he once was, but he's back with the organization with whom he spawned his legend and both he & Bird have championship experience. Will it be enough for the Cannons to win the pennant, let alone the Championship? Hard to say because the battle in the CA now looks like at least a three-way battle between the Cougars, Wolves and Cannons so Cincinnati has to hope it has enough, ahem, "firepower" to overcome the cats & dogs. KEYSTONES STRETCH FED LEAD The Philadelphia Keystones have opened the widest gap between first and second place the Federal Association has seen all season as wins in 11 of their last 13 games have helped the Keystones open up a 7 and a half game lead on second place Boston. The Minutemen are in the midst of a long road trip that started well enough with 3 wins in 4 games at Philadelphia but since then the New Englanders are 7-7 and losing ground every week to the Keystones. The good news for the Minutemen is their trip comes to an end with games in Detroit today and tomorrow. After they, the Boston nine are back at Minutemen Park for the next 3 weeks. The bad news for Boston -and the rest of the Fed- is there appears to be no stopping Bobby Barrell. The Georgia Jolter was named the top player in the Fed for the second week in a row and the 5th time this season. He is on a pace for 46 homers and 152 rbi's - numbers that have not been seen since Sal Pestilli clouted 46 in 1938 and Barrell himself drove in 162 in 1936. Barrell presently has 30 homeruns and no one else in either Association has more than 16. homers or 66 rbi's. A triple crown might even be in reach as Barrell is hitting .334 and within sight of Washington's Don Miller, who leads the Fed at a .352 clip.  1945 DRAFT PREVIEW PART 2: HIGH SCHOOL POSITION PLAYERS This looks like another exceptional class of high school position players with OSA presently projecting multiple all-star trips for three of them. We only do a top ten list but there are so many worthy candidates here we likely could have gone twenty deep and still been discussing highly talented high school position players. Here is a look at the six high school position players that cracked our initial mock of this class just under a year ago. Code:
WAY TO EARLY 1945 DRAFT MOCK RANKINGS OF FIRST ROUND # NAME AGE POS SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT 1 DAN FINCH 16 3B Bowman (SC) HS Darlington, SC could make multiple trips to All-Star Game 3 MICKEY McCLURE 16 RF Seymour (CT) HS Middlesex, NJ could make multiple trips to All-Star Game 8 IKE PERRY 16 C Navasota (TX) HS Hearne, TX high ceiling, projects well on field and at plate 10 PAUL WILLIAMS 16 LF Clayton HS, St Louis St Louis, MO potential elite OF on contending team 12 HARRY McCUE 16 1B Branford (CT) HS New York, NY protected as an elite starting 1B 16 BOB RUSSO 16 C Hatboro (PA) HS Wilkes-Barre, PA potential to unleash obvious talent 1: DAN FINCH 3B: Bowman (SC) HS -A natural leader, OSA feels the 17 year old third baseman has the potential to play in a number of all-star games. Has everything you want in a third baseman: excellent eye, above average power and shown he is a solid defender. He has hit 14 homers and batted .445 in two seasons of high school ball but scouts would like to see him improve upon those numbers as a senior. Bowman High has a pretty strong program in South Carolina with a pair of players from the school -infielder Ralph Booker and OF Al Lynch expected to be drafted in 1946, but neither will approach Finch's level. Another Bowman High alum is Jimmy Hairston, a highly thought of outfielder in the Cougars system. Hairston was a 1943 teammate of Finch's before the Cougars selected him in the fourth round and he is presently in his second season at the Class C level. 2: PAUL WILLAIMS LF: Clayton HS, St Louis, Mo. - Another leader with the potential to play in many all-star games, Williams goes full throttle at all times. Hit .473 with 9 homers in 50 games the past two seasons. OSA feels he could be one of the best hitters in the league with his combination of outstanding contact ability and above average power potential. Williams is looking to top Bob Petty, a pitcher taken in the third round of the 1939 draft by the Chicago Cougars, as the highest drafted Clayton High alum. 3: HARRY McCUE 1B: Branford (CT) HS - The third of the high school hitters OSA sees as a future all-star, McCue was born in New York City but grew up in Connecticut. Very smart he likely will have plenty of colleges after him so there will be competition for the FABL club that selects McCue. Has a great stroke and projects to hit for high average but likely will not be an elite power hitter. McCue will need to have a big career to be the most successful ballplayer out of Connecticut's Branford High as New York Stars former first round pick Wally Hunter is a graduate. Hunter won 24 games for the Hornets over 3 seasons before the Stars selected him. He made his big league debut at 21 in 1943 but is presently in the Army Air Corps. Branford High has actually been a pretty good source for FABL draft picks beyond Hunter and McCue. There is Cecil Cook, a Keystones fifth rounder in 1936, Chicago Chiefs 1938 12th round pick Ive Goldstein, Bob Wolf drafted in the 11th round in 1942 by Brooklyn, and most recently Jack Jordan, a third baseman chosen in the 15th round two months ago by the Montreal Saints. 4: IKE PERRY C: Navasota (TX) HS -The 2-time High School All-American has a great work ethic and is a very sure-handed and reliable catcher. He has plus-plus contact potential and should be an above average power hitter. Sounds a lot like fellow Texas native T.R. Goins but that might be too high a ceiling for Perry. Maybe more like Mike Taylor was in his prime would be a fairer comparison. 5: CARL CLARK CF: Springfield (MO) HS -One of the younger players available as Clark won't turn 17 until later this month. OSA feels he can develop into an elite big league centerfielder with plus contact skills, an advanced feel for the strikeout zone with likely average power. Clark, a starter each of his 3 seasons at Springfield High, has a high school slash line of .459/.550/.745 in 71 games. OSA also notes he has the mental makeup to handle big game situations. 6: HERB KELLER SS: Bakersfield (CA) HS -Just the one season of high school ball for the 17 year old Keller, and his offensive numbers .427/.500/.685 were not overly impressive but OSA says it will come, noting he has a great stroke and projects to hit for high average. The verdict from the scouting service in Keller will be an elite big league shortstop. Keller looks to follow another Bakersfield High grad into pro ball. Barney Burke is a first baseman drafted in the 17th round in 1940 and is presently playing Class B ball in the Forester organization. Of course the most famous Bakersfield born ballplayer is none other than Rabbit Day of the Chicago Chiefs. 7: MICKEY McCLURE RF: Seymour (CT) HS -Another player the scouting service feels can become an elite big leaguer at his position. McClure has an impeccable eye at the dish and well above average contact potential. He might not him a lot of homers but did smack 9 in 69 high school games over his three seasons at Seymour. 8: MIKE COCHRAN 2B: Pelton HS, San Francisco, Ca. -Scouts say if you can tolerate occasional lapses in the field from him, Cochran could be one of the top offensive second baseman in the league someday. A very confident player with terrific mechanics at the plate, the San Francisco native hit .482 in his first and so far only season of high school ball. Cochran is vying to become the third player drafted out of San Francisco's Pelton High School. Art Fifield was a 21st round pick of Montreal in 1934 and the Philadelphia Keystones took Stan Kent in the 9th round of the 1938 draft. Kent is presently serving in the Army. 9: PHIL BILLMAN LF: Dickson City (PA) HS -Loads of talent and plenty of power potential but the knock on Billman is he is not as motivated as he should be and perhaps lacks the baseball sense you see in many high end prospects. He is 6'2", 180 lbs so the power should improve as he fills it. He hit just 11 homers in 68 games but had 44 doubles so the power potential is certainly there. His high school teammate George Rikard was a 9th round pick of Cleveland just a couple of months ago and is presently pitching in Class C. 10: HOWDY CALDERONE RF: Union Bridge (MD) HS - Calderone is much like Billman in some ways. Both have loads of potential but the work ethic comes into question. Where he differs is Calderone is much more of a gap hitter than a power bat. He is small (5'9", 155 lbs) and relies on speed as well as a sweet, fluid swing. He has played two seasons of high school and took a small step forward in all 3 slash numbers. Scouts project that development to continue. Code:
HONOURABLE MENTION NAME POS SCHOOL Bob Russo C Hatboro (PA) HS George Brown 1B Bridgeport (CT) HS Howie Ticer 1B Bluff City (TN) HS Pat Roninson 2B Durant (OK) HS Al Browner 3B Wharton (TX) HS Pat Kisiel SS St Aloysius HS, New Orleans, LA Max Rice SS McKinley HS, Chicago, IL Mickey Bednar CF Camden (NJ) HS Rudy Gerbaugh CF Oglesby (IL) HS Billy Ingram CF Eutaw (AL) HS Adam Sharp CF Lincoln HS, Philadelphia, PA Ernie Ross LF Factoryville (PA) HS Arnold Alderson RF Curtis HS, Staten Island, NY Ralph Morrison RF Goshen (IN) HS Willie Taylor RF Chehalis (WA) HS The cost was very large for the chance to bring Tom Bird and Rabbit Day to the Queen City. Frank Sears is a 22 year old pitcher who has looked very good in his 3 big league starts but with all of the reinforcements he would likely have been returned to Indianapolis this week. Then there is The Polish Hammer. Everything you hear tells you Dick Blaszak is going to be a terrific big league power hitter, maybe even the kind of talent that only comes around once every few years but you don't land a catcher of Tom Bird's skill -even a 36 year old- without paying a large price. The Cannons felt earlier moves to bring in an extra first round pick and a top pitching prospect in Bob Arman from Boston helped set the stage for this deal. Both sides say it came up and was closed in just a matter of minutes but that does not mean the Cannons organization did not have a plan. They dealt a lot of future away last season to bring in players over the summer and that ended in a parade through downtown Cincinnati. It is unknown if that will happen again but you have to agree the chances are much better with Bird in the fold. If it doesn't, well with 2 first round picks and a new draft lottery system the Cannons are thinking they might just get lucky and claim the opportunity to draft a replacement for Blaszak as a top prospect in January. Cannons Scouting Director Bill Bordwell and his staff tell us there is plenty of high end talent available again this year. So while it is a big risk that Blaszak comes back to haunt you, the Cannons felt it was one the organization had to take. *** TROUBLE FOR TIGERS *** It seems like Cincinnati's American Football Association expansion club has dealt with nothing but problems. First there is that nagging thought that right now, in the middle of a war with a league that was forced to shrink a year ago because of player shortages, is a terrible time for a new club to enter the fray and hope to compete with the best the sport has to offer. Then there was that fiasco with the name Monarchs and the row with Queen City University, which had dibs on that moniker going back over 40 years. Now the Tigers (formerly Monarchs) may have to go begging to Queen City U or some other college for a place to play. There is apparently some disagreement over the rent that Cannons magnate John E Tice and the newest AFA entry agreed upon for the Tigers to play at Tice Memorial Stadium. Both sides say they are confident it will get sorted out before the season opens next month but if not the Tigers may be forced to play out of the Lexington home of Central Kentucky, who is also nicknamed the Tigers so hopefully that doesn't force another name change on the pro grid team. Behind the scenes the issue between Tice and the Cincinnati Tigers is said to be because the Cannons boos wanted the AFA bid for himself but the league went with a different group. Meanwhile, Tice is said to hold the certificate for the Cincinnati entry in the new and as of yet unnamed pro grid loop that Pittsburgh sportsman Dick Payne is said to be targeting for a 1945 kick-off.
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 7/31/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 11-04-2022 at 02:23 PM. |
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11-07-2022, 12:57 PM
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All Star Reserve
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August 7, 1944
AUGUST 7, 1944 HAVING A BARREL OF FUN IN PHILADELPHIA The Philadelphia Keystones continue to hold a sizeable lead atop the Federal Association and one only has to look at the team's best player to find out why. Bobby Barrell (.346,34,112) seems to have found another gear at the age of 34 and was named the Federal Association player of the week for the third week in a row, something that perhaps has never happened before. Barrell has hit .446 with 12 homers and 34 rbi's and the Keystones have gone 15-4 over that stretch. On the season he is now on a pace to hit 49 homers. Only 7 times in FABL history has a player hit 50 homers. Barrell did it once before -in 1936- while Max Morris did it 5 times and Joe Masters hit 56 in 1928. The amazing thing and making it truly a Max Morris-like level of dominance for Barrell this season is no other FABL player is on a pace to hit more than 25 round-trippers this year. The Keystones closest challenger now is the surprising Detroit Dynamos. At 7.5 games back it seems unlikely the Dynamos can catch Philadelphia but Detroit's turn around this season -after winning just 69 games a year ago- has to rank as one of the biggest surprises in the Federal Association especially when you consider the Dynamos dealt their best player, Red Johnson, to the Gothams for a boatload of picks and prospects a year ago. The big trade of this year's deadline seemed to pay off nicely last week for Cincinnati. The surging Cannons extended their winning streak to 11 games with sweeps of the New York Stars and Philadelphia Sailors and now are just a game and a half behind the first place Chicago Cougars in the Continental Association with Toronto sandwiched in the middle. All-Star catcher Tom Bird had a nice debut, doubling in his first game with the Ohio gunmen and finishing the week with back to back 3 hit games in weekend wins over the Sailors in Philadelphia. Rabbit Day, the other future Hall of Famer to come over in the deadline blockbuster with the Chicago Chiefs, went 7 innings while allowing just 1 run to beat the Sailors Saturday for his 130th win as a Cannon and 316th of his storied career. The Cannons now return home after an impressive 16-4 road trip but will face a crucial test this week as the Chicago Cougars invade Tice Memorial Stadium for a 4-game series. The Cougars slide continued last week with back-to-back shutout losses at home to Toronto but they did rebound over the weekend and take two of three from Brooklyn. Chicago will now spend the next 3 weeks on the road, clinging desperately by a half game over Toronto to a lead that not that long ago was in double-digits.  1945 DRAFT PREVIEW PART 3: HIGH SCHOOL PITCHERS A year ago in the "Way Too Early" 1945 mock there were three high school pitchers listed among the top 16 OSA prospects. Only one of them made the new top ten High School pitcher list and the highest rated of the three - Leo Franks out of Sandusky, Ohio- has been forced to give up the sport after elbow troubles prevented him from playing his junior year of high school and is now focusing on earning a college basketball or track scholarship. Al Daniel Jr., who's father spent a decade as a first baseman with the Brooklyn Kings, was 9th overall a year ago but falls out of the top ten even just when listing high school hurlers this time around. That leaves just Russ McLean, a Pittsburgh kid, who was #13 overall on the early list after his sophomore season, to crack our top high school arms list entering their senior year of school. Here are the three that cracked the overall top 16 list from last August. Code:
RK NAME AGE P SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA REPORT 6 LEO FRANKS 16 P Sandusky (OH) HS Sandusky, MI potential to be top of rotation starter 9 AL DANIEL JR. 16 P Brownsville (TX) HS Brooklyn, NY tools needed to be mid-rotation starter 13 RUSS McLEAN 16 P Shady Side Acad, Pittsburgh Washington, DC solid #3 starter or better 1: STEVE DAVIS RHP Brownwood (TX) HS: Davis has front-line starter potential according to OSA and that means he is certainly a possible candidate to be drafted first overall in January. The tall (6'2") Texan has 6 different pitches in his reportoire and while his stuff will never win awards the league scouting service feels he possesses an above average potential for keeping the ball in the park. He went 9-1 with a 1.75 era and a 12.2 K/9 rate this past season, his first in high school ball. 2: JOE HORVATH RHP Oshkosh (WI) HS: Horvath could develop into an impact starter when he matures. His fastball is considered a little below average, topping out at 86 mph, but he overcomes his pedestrian arsenal by painting the black with ease. Horvath went 9-2 with a 1.58 era in his lone college season, fanning 138 and walking 23 in 114 innings of work. 3: TED BEAVAN RHP East HS, Buffalo, NY: In two seasons at East High, Beavan is 19-1 with a 1.16 era and a 13.6 k/9 rate. Tall and thin, he may add velocity to his 87 mph fastball as he fills out but it is his off-speed offerings that standout. OSA feels he can be a mid-rotation piece. Beavan is vying to be the third draft pick out of Buffalo's East High, following Si Crocker -a 1936 Boston fourth round pick who is now in the Army but played 19 big league games- and Hubert Williamson - a 24 year old pitcher taken by the Gothams in the 11th round in 1938 and presently with the independent Amarillo Stars of the Western Baseball League. 4: HARRY LINKER RHP Clifton (TX) HS: It seems like a fair drop off after the top three but Linker should be someone you can trust in the rotation, according to the scouting service. Certainly not a top arm, but much more than just a simple rotation filler. The Dallas native had a strong sophomore season, going 9-1 with a 1.54 era, but dropped off a bit as a junior. Very smart, coaches say he always focuses and concentrates on the right things. 5: RUSS McLEAN RHP Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, PA: No one in his draft class will have better intangibles. Great work ethic, very low and always leading the way. The groundball pitcher has four decent pitches with plenty of movement. OSA is not overly commited on his upside but does feel McLean is a worthwhile development project for a future rotation spot. The Washington DC born 17 year old went 16-2 with a 1.06 era in two season of high school ball. 6: MIKE MANN RHP Media (PA) HS: The Brooklyn born righthander has been a starter since his freshman year, compiling a 25-4 record with a 1.45 era in 3 seasons of high school ball. He has an above-average sinker and cutter, but his future success may depend on his subpar change of pace developing. OSA thinks Mann deserves a spot in the rotation eventually, but likely closer to the bottom than the top. Mann joins a growing list of players from Media High School, about an hour away from Philadelphia. Paul Baker and Zane Kelley are both pitchers in the Kings system who attended Media High. Baker was a1942 second rounder while Kelley went in the 7th round a couple of months ago. Both are teammates at the moment in Class C Marshalltown. There is also infielder John Baird, a Gothams 20th round selection in 1941 but presently in the Army Air Corps. Mann will likely not be the only new addition to the group as shortstop Bobby Arnett is also eligible this draft and Gilberto Ocasio is a Cuban born immigrant who just finished his freshman year at the school. 7: JIM WILLIAMS RHP Chiicopee (MA) HS: A frim believer in no pain, no gain Williams is a very hard worker. He is an extreme groundball pitcher who relies on a sinker, curve and circle change but at 6'4" and with a peak velocity of 89 mph already you have to think he should be able to throw some heat as he matures. Right now he lives on the corners and OSA sees him peaking as a #4 starter. 8: DUTCH YOAK LHP La Porte (TX) HS: The third Texas born pitcher on this list might well turn out to be the best one. Houston native Dutch Yoak is a two-time All-American who has go 23-0 with a 0.75 era over the past two seasons and is 31-2, 1.36 as a three year starter. His K/9 last year was 16.0 while lowering his BB/9 to 1.5. High work ethic combined with good size at 6'4" and a fastball that peaks at 89 mph. OSA says his curveball is a weapon and his change-up also will be very solid at it's peak but the scouting service feels home runs (and he has allowed 11 over three high school seasons) will be an issue and feels Yoak is a back of the rotation piece at best. Yoak is following in the footsteps of Bob Saltzman, a La Porte grad who was selected by the Chicago Cougars in round 7 of the 1935 draft. Saltzman never made the big leagues and now, at age 27, is pitching for independent Sacramento of the Great Western League. 9: JIMMY BLOCK RHP Dundee (MI) HS: Detroit native is another high work ethic pitcher with a 3 pitch arsenal. He works on the corners with off-speed offerings designed to induce a lot of ground balls. OSA feels he will likely settle in at the end of the rotation. A three year starter, Block is 25-7 with a 1.47 era and a 10.3 K/9. Detroit's 1935 20th round pick Eddie Duncan, who is presently at AA Akron in the Dynamos system, is also a graduate of Dundee High School. 10: ALEX DRAKE LHP Trenton (NJ) HS: Another pitcher OSA sees as a back of the rotation piece, Drake is said to be very focused, but frustrates easily. Made his high school debut as a junior, going 8-1 with a 1.20 era and a solid 13.4 K/9. There have been several Trenton High grads to play pro ball with the most famous likely being Leon Blackridge, a 4 year big league veteran with Washington and Cleveland who is now in the Air Force. The most famous Trenton, NJ born ballplayer has to be George Blankenship, an 1890s outfielder who had 2155 career hits for the Gothams and St Louis and was a member of three WCS winning New York teams. HONOURABLE MENTION CORKY ABAN -RHP - Ottawa (IL) High School AL DANIELS JR. - LHP - Brownsville (TN) High School HERSCH WILLIAMS - RHP - West Philadelphia High School, Philadelphia, PA. Next up we will provide a mock draft of the top 16 prospects according to OSA for the 1945 FABL draft. WOLVES REPORT CARDS As July turns to August Brett has decided to issue his first set of report cards for your Toronto Wolves. These are a little later than last year as there were some expectations that the team would be making a trade deal before the deadline to push the team over the top in the chase of the Chicago Cougars. This trade does not appear as though it will happen, rumours around the clubhouse are that the team's brass are looking at slight upgrade at C but are not aggressively in pursuit of this deal. Many FABL teams are in the same situation with the uncertainty of the players serving in Europe. The euphoria of early June immediately after D-Day has cooled, the progress through France into Germany has slowed over the past seven weeks as Allied forces run into stiff resistance from the Reich. It now seems obvious that players will not return to baseball in time to make any difference in the 1944 pennant races. All front offices are now concentrating on the off-season after recent hints from the league executive office that there would probably be no Rule 5 draft in 1945, Wolves are said to have a huge chalkboard setup in one of back offices where they are trying to set their 1945 organization. Staffers have been seen leaving the office to return with more coloured chalk and blackboard chamois, an individual who spoke on the process on the promise of not being identified said to Brett, "The best way I can describe the process is to use an army term, SNAFU." The Wolves team has had a surprising good first four months of the season spending most of the time in second place chasing the Cougars. Wolves closed the gap to as little as a 1/2 game a week ago after a 9-1 run after the All-Star game coupled with a dramatic Chicago slump. A recent 3-7 run has left the Wolves 2 1/2 back and has also brought Philadelphia, Cincinnati back into the conversation. The Sailors are only a game behind Toronto, the Cannons trail Chicago 4 1/2 games. Toronto has fifty-eight games to play which is five more than Chicago, three more than Philadelphia. Cannons also have fifty-eight to play as the Cannons and Wolves have played the least games in the FABL thus far in 1944. Brett's Grades: Manager- Bob Call: A- Call has brought the team to a level higher than any of the pundits predicted for Toronto. His rather unorthodox handling of the SP hopes to pay dividends going down the stretch, Call pulled SP quickly during the beginning the season with the expressed goal of saving these arms for the push in August, September. We will now see if this tactic will pay dividends. A criticism of Call has been his use of the SB, the team has stolen 25 bases but been caught 28 times. Toronto is not a homerun hitting team so moving runners up is a good idea, the question remains "Have the Wolves run themselves out of some victories?" Call has done a good job keeping the clubhouse on an even keel, the team has been very streaky, periods of winning followed by losing a number of games in quick succession. CATCHERS Clarence Howerton- B- His offensive contribution, .223/.310/.301, has fallen significantly but his presence, handling of the pitching staff continues at a high level. Expect to see him to continue to get the vast majority of work behind the plate. Walter Loera- C- Walter was brought in to handle the duties during the doubleheaders team and fans were hoping for more than ..205/.279/.256. Fans may see more of Roscoe Zeiler as the season runs down, Zeiler has been effective in the bullpen, he may have more time for C duties when Ron Coles returns to action. INFIELDERS 1B- Walter Pack- C After being seriously considered for league MVP Pack has underperformed this season, .264/.326/.409 52 RBI is not even close to expectations of Pack. Can the recent signs of life continue for him? 1B- Al Jensen- A Has done more than expected in his backup role, .310/.360/.390. 2B- Hal Wood- B-Wood's offensive production has been a little above expectations at .306/.377/.419. The problem with Wood has been the twenty-one errors at 2B for this 1943 defensive replacement for Mike Rollinson. Over the All-Star break Wood worked with John Coburn on his infield footwork. 2B-Joe Bell- A Bell, like Jensen, has performed above expectations at .286/.371/.429. Bell was questionable to even head north with the Wolves in March now may see more playing time the last two months of the season at second or third. 3B- Ockie Holliday- C disappointing again in an even numbered year .264/.292/.355. Holliday has also grounded into a team leading thirteen double plays. His defensive work at the hot corner has been consistent but not stellar. SS- Charlie Artuso- B+ Artuso has rebounded from a disappointing 1943 .279/.352/.406 although he has not provided the number of SB Call would expect from this SB threat. His defense at short is still among the CA's best. LF- Juan Pomales- B- Pomales' bat has not given the Wolves desired results, .261/.335/.345 45 RBI is not to Pomales' standard. He has been a plus defender in the OF. CF- Chink Stickles- A- Stickles' first full season had been at least what was expected of the All-Star CF .272/.356/.399 along with 14 OF assists will keep Chink in the everyday lineup. A hope would be more successful stolen base attempts to help the Wolves in the run scoring department. RF- Gus Hull- A Hull has taken the everyday RF job from Reginald Westfall with a stellar .302/.381/.478 performance in 79 starts in the outfield. The balance of the roster Ed Marshall, Larry Vestal, Frank Huddleston, all would grade out at C or C-. They are plugged into the lineup occasionally to provide rest but have not made any significant contribution. Huddleston was recently injured, is on the disabled list, Wayne Henderson was recalled from Buffalo which gives Call options with a RHB at first or second. PITCHING SP- Bernie Johnson- A The off-season question of who would takeover from Hancock as the leader of the staff has been answered by [b]Bernie Johnson. His 12-7, 2.57 along with his first All-Star game appearance has given Call a stopper in the starting staff. SP- Bob Walls- A If Johnson is 1A he is followed closely by Walls at 1B, 11-7, 3.51 gives the team a solid 1-2 combination to hopefully stop any extended losing streaks. SP-Jimmy Gibbs- B- Gibbs sophomore season has not been close to his rookie year. Have the hitters figured out Gibbs or can he step up down the dog days of August? SP- Jim Laurita- B Laurita has been a useful, if at times ineffective, in his starting role. Plagued, as many rookies are, by the free pass the team hopes he can show a marginal improvement for the balance of '44. SP- Chick Wirtz- A- After a sluggish start in a starting role many were worried that his career was over after his struggles in 1943. Wirtz has responded by winning four of his last five starts to even his record at 7-7 along with bringing his ERA under 2 at 1.98. Chick has made a strong case to have Call keep him starting when the schedule allows a four-man rotation, sending either Laurita or Gibbs to the 'pen. RP- Billy Crosby- B+ A major cog in Call's effort to save the starter's arms Crosby has responded with 13 games saved good for a tie for second in the FABL. RP- Roscoe Zeiler- B+ As mentioned earlier Roscoe has been an effective arm in the 'pen logging a team high of 46 1/3 inning in relief. RP- Phil English- B- Crafty aging veteran has preformed when called upon. RP- Bob McRae- B- Like English McRae has done his job. There is hope Ron Coles can return in late August after rehabilitating from surgery that will give another arm to give Call another option. Attendance has dropped by over 17000 fans per game at Dominion Stadium. This is understandable given the increased demands, working hours expected of those on the home front to supply the needed materials to those fighting this seeming unending almost 5 year nightmare of WWII. The Wolves hope to provide fans with meaningful, pennant contending baseball going forward, then possibly fans will find their way to the stadium for a short, well deserved respite from the daily grind.  *** A BIRD IN THE HAND *** The Transportation Department might not have been happy but the two newest Cannons arrived in New York early Monday after quickly finding an overnight train from Chicago. They could only secure one sleeper berth so it went to Tom Bird as Rabbit Day had pitched two days earlier against Pittsburgh and would not make his Cannon debut until later in the week. So Bird was at least somewhat rested when he met his new teammates and faced the New York Stars Monday afternoon. He doubled in that game and would have a great week -hitting .381 with 4 extra base hits and driving in 5 runs while providing the type of leadership behind the plate one would expect from a 9-time All-Star and two time World Champion. Day got the start Saturday -his first as a Cannon since he went 21-11 for the 1933 Baltimore version of the organization- and he brought his A-game...or at least what is left of it in his now 40 year old right arm. Day went 7 innings allowing just 1 run on 4 hits but did walk 6. There was little pressure on the 316 game winner as the boys staked him to a 4-0 lead before he threw his first pitch of the game and plated 8 more in the 6th inning off of the Sailors. You can't help but feel like we are playing with house money after the start the Cannons had. It feels like a second straight pennant is very much a possibility and that is such a change from the mood around Tice Memorial even just a month ago. However, there is a lot of baseball left and you have to think the Cougars will turn things around at some point. They are too good of a ballclub not to. But let's just hope it takes them at least one more week to straighten things out. There are plenty of good seats still available at Tice Memorial this week and the Cannons would love to see you show your support as they try to keep that 11 game streak alive. ***CINCY CAGE STAR UNDECIDED *** Central Ohio and Detroit City College are both nervously awaiting word from big Lonnie Mullins -one of the best high school cagers the Queen City has ever produced. The towering 6'9" 16 year old is preparing for his senior season at Taft High School but says he will make a final decision on where he will attend college "shortly." Mullins did confirm his choices are narrowed down to the two Great Lakes Alliance rivals: the Central Ohio Aviators and the Detroit City College Knights. Meanwhile Leo Franks, who a year ago was on the TWIFB way to early mock draft shortlist as the top high school pitcher available for the '45 selection period, is also a highly touted cager. Forced to give up baseball after not pitching at all due to elbow troubles, Franks is recovered well enough to once again tun the Sandusky High School offense from his guard position but says baseball is no longer a part of his future. He is believed to be leaning towards Pittsburgh State for his college education but is also said to be considering Elyria. ** TIGERS AND TICE AGREE TO PLAY NICE *** An agreement has been reached to allow Cincinnati's new AFA entry to play it's home games at Tice Memorial this fall. The grid squad thought that was always the case but a late disagreement on the lease deal with the Cannons owner created some tense talk, but all is well now and the games will be played in Cincinnati. Season tickets also went on sale recently and are said to selling well. The Tigers will compete in the Western Division of the 10 team American Football Association and are set to begin training camp in Lexington next week. This is a team waiting for the war to end. No exciting rookies to watch, more a matter of hoping no one gets injured. Gothams fans looking forward to a lineup with Brewer, Monier, Messer and Johnson. Doesn't it seem like we've done this wait for Brewer, Monier and Messer before? Ed Bowman hoas been just ok this season. I'm sure the losing with a bunch of unknowns behind him doesn't help. Jim Lonardo has tied his career high of 4 shutouts. Jim Baggett has been a pleasant surprise after waiting 7 years for a second big league shot. In the next week I'll take a look at what's simmering down on the farm. Despite a low system ranking (dead last if you must know) there are a handful of interesting players. Otherwise it's a waiting game until sometime this offseason when ping pong balls or magic beans or whatever, decides the draft positions.
PRO GRID LOOP, WITH 450 SIGNED & BIG TICKET SALES, IS RIDING HIGH Some 450 pro gridders -a number which compares favorably with prewar turnouts- have begun assembling at various training sites to prepare for the opening of the American Football Association season next month. The Washington Wasps have been working out for a week in San Diego as they make their return after a 1 year hiatus and the Brooklyn Football Kings are scheduled to stsart official practice tomorrow at a college campus in Texas. The Wasps have about 43 players on hand while the Kings are preparing for a trial squad of 60 men -largest in the ten team league. American Football Association President Jack Kristich reports the largest advance ticket sales in the league's history and officials look forward to a banner season which should easily surpass last seasons average attendance numbers of over 28,000 per game. The league's newest entry -the Cincinnati Tigers- also report they are good to go and will play out of Tice Memorial Stadium -home of the baseball Cannons- have some concerns the club may need to look to a college stadium for a homefield. The defending champion Chicago Wildcats report they will have 40 players in camp when they open later this week at the campus of Indiana A&M. The Tigers will train at the Lexington, Ky. campus of Central Kentucky University and believe that they should also have roughly 40 players in camp. That is similar to the totals expected by each of the other 6 teams: the Detroit Maroons, Pittsburgh Paladins and the combined St Louis-Cleveland entry in the West joining Chicago and Cincinnati while the east will have the Boston Americans, New York Football Stars and Philadelphia Frigates -who return as a team after a season spent partnering with the Ramblers- joining the Kings and Wasps. The regular season is set to begin on September 17. MILITARY GRID TILT EYES BIG CITY LOCATION Collegiate football's super spectacle, the annual Rome State-Annapolis Maritime game, probably will leave the rural hinterlands and come out in it's traditional metropolitan setting this year. No set has yet been set for the service grid classic, scheduled for December 2, but military officials in both Georgia and Maryland have indicated a favorable attitude towards proposals for staging the game in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington or New York. It is the Navigators 'home' game this season and the choice of the local will be made by the Admirals and lesser lights who run the academy at Annapolis. But the Army Generals at Rome State must concur in all arrangements. The Navy has always been in favor of the crowd-luring type of contest, staged in a metropolis. In the year following Pearl Harbor however, the Army clamped down as did the Office of Defense Transportation and ruled the game should be held either in Annapolis or Rome, Ga., with attendance restricted to residents of the immediate area. That meant instead of the usual crowd of 70,000 or so fans and the colorful fanfare that normally accompanies such a spectacle, the service games in 1942 and 1943 drew under 18,00 customers. It was held in Annapolis two years ago and at Rome last fall. BIG START FOR ST BLANE IN AIAA CAGE RECRUITING St Blane University has secured commitments for the 1945-46 season from two of the top ten high school cagers in the nation including Cyril Worley, a 17 year old forward out of Philadelphia. Worley, considered by many to be the best senior who will play on the hardwood this season made his decision to attend St Blane known earlier this week. A day later another highly touted forward, 6'6" Bruce Gard from Baltimore Catonsville High School also confirmed he will joining the Fighting Saints a year from now. Basketball has been a struggle for the prestigious Pennsylvania university, which has not made the AIAA tournament since 1927-28 and suffered through an awful 11-18 season a year ago but the commitments of Worley and Gard, along with 6'9" center Joshua Samuels, who was a top ten recruit and will join the school as the prize of this year's class speaks of a much better future for the Saints. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 8/06/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 11-07-2022 at 04:16 PM. |
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11-08-2022, 12:40 PM
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All Star Reserve
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 677
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August 14, 1944
AUGUST 14, 1944 COUGARS FINALLY HAVE WINNING WEEK For the first time since June 19-25 when they went 5-3 the Chicago Cougars won more games then they lost in a week. And it could not have come at a better time. After suffering through a 11-25 record over the past month and a half, Chicago went 4-2 last week and increased their lead atop the Continental Association to 2.5 games on both Cincinnati and Toronto. It was visits to each of those cities that was on the docket last week and after splitting a 4-game set in the Queen City, the Cougars headed north to Canada and swept a double-header with Toronto to open a four game -one which continues today and tomorrow. After two days to prepare for and then begin their three-week road trip the Cougars got the trek started the right way with a come from behind 4-3 win over what was a red-hot Cincinnati team -halting the Cannons 11 game winning streak in the process. Cincinnati rebounded the next day with a 5-2 win and after trading victories Friday and Saturday it was off to Toronto for the Cougars. Chicago's offense was firing on all cylinders with a pair of 7-run outings to hand the Wolves two more losses in a rough week that saw them start by dropping 3 of 4 to the New York Stars. In the Federal Association the Philadelphia Keystones finished the week 3-3 and now are up by 7 games atop the Federal Association. Detroit is no longer in second place. The honour goes to Pittsburgh as the Miners, after splitting a 4-game set to open the week against the Dynamos, finished off with a doubleheader sweep of the last place Gothams on Sunday while Detroit was losing twice in Washington.  1945 DRAFT PREVIEW PART 4: MOCK FIRST ROUND There are four players in the current draft class that OSA feels are capable of playing in multiple all-star games. Big Riggins, the Christian Trophy winner and All-American outfielder out of Grange College leads the way and is joined by three high school seniors: third baseman Dan Finch, first baseman Harry McCue and outfielder Paul Williams. It does look like another deep crop for position players but, while there are some very good pitching candidates, this draft class appeaars to lack that elite dominant pitcher. One must keep in mind that as of this writing the class was not yet complete with 64 still needed to be added some time before the January draft. Here is our mock first round based on the current scouting assessments provided by Dan Barrell and his staff at the OSA. Code:
1945 MOCK FIRST ROUND DRAFT RK NAME POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWN OSA ASSESSMENT 1 BOB RIGGINS CF 20 Grange College Detroit, MI multiple trips to allstar game 2 DAN FINCH 3B 17 Bowman (SC) HS Darlington, SC multiple trips to all-star game 3 PAUL WILLIAMS LF 17 Clayton HS StL St Louis, MO multiple trips to all-star game 4 HARRY McCUE 1B 17 Branford (CT) HS New York, NY multiple trips to all-star game 5 STEVE DAVIS P 18 Brownwood (TX) HS Brownwood, TX front line starter potential 6 HARRY FINNEY SS 20 Bluegrass State Tulsa, OK all star caliber SS 7 JOHNNY PETERS CF 20 Liberty College Lawrencivlle,TN elite CF on contender 8 IKE PERRY C 17 Navasota (TX) HS Hearne, TX elite starting C 9 OTIS POWER P 20 Grange College Augusta, GA near top of any rotation 10 CARL CLARK CF 17 Springfield(MO)HS Springfield, MO elite starting CF 11 JOE HORVATH P 17 Oshkosh(WI) HS Antigo, WI potential impact starter 12 IVEY HENLEY 1B 20 Jersey City Tech Brooklyn, NY potential to unleash obvious talent 13 GEORGE PENZA SS 20 Yellowhammer St. Waco,TC elite big league SS 14 HERB KELLER SS 17 Bakersfield(CA)HS Bakersfield, CA elite big league SS 15 MICKEY McCLURE RF 17 Seymour(CT) HS Middlesex, NJ elite starting RF 16 TED BEAVAN P 17 East HS, Buffalo Buffalo, NY mid rotation piece HONOURABLE MENTION NAME POS AGE SCHOOL PHIL BILLMAN LF 17 Dickson City (PA) HS PETE BUTLER P 21 Oklahoma City State HOWDY CALDERONE RF 17 Union Bridge (MD) HS CLAUDE CLEMONS CF 20 San Francisco Tech MIKE COCHRANE 2B 17 Pelton HS, San Francisco, CA LEN HARRINGTON CF 20 Eastern State PAT KISIEL SS 17 St Aloysius HS, New Orleans, LA HARRY LINKER P 17 Clifton (TX) HS RUSS McLEAN P 17 Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh, PA BOB RUSSO C 18 Hatboro (PA) HS HANK SMITH 1B 20 Talmadge State UPDATED DRAFT LOTTERY ODDS FORESTERS, STARS IN DRIVERS SEAT FOR #1 Under the new system the draft order for rounds 1 and 2 will be determined by a lottery. The Associations will still alternate picks and the the Continental Association will claim the first selection this year. The two pennant winners will automatically pick 15th and 16th but the other 14 teams will enter a lottery to determine the draft order in the opening two rounds. Improvement (or regression) on last years win total determines you chances with the two non-pennant winners to have the largest increase each getting 3 balls in the lottery, the next 2 getting 2, and the final 3 clubs getting just 1 ball in the lottery. As it stands right now the Keystones and Cougars would be the pennant winners so the best chance of earning the first overall selection goes to the Cleveland Foresters and Philadelphia Sailors. As result there are a couple of interesting battles outside of the pennant races. Pittsburgh is very close to increasing it's odds on picking second overal (the Fed clubs get the even picks this year) while Toronto and Cincinnati, both still very focused on chasing the front-running Chicago Cougars in the Continental Association, could double their odds at picking first if they fail in the pennant pursuit but overtake the Sailors improvement number from last year. Here are the draft lottery odds if the season were to have ended today. The 1944 win total is a projection based on current winning percentage. Code:
CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION (picks 1,3,5,7,9,11 &13) TEAM 44Pro 43W +- Odds to Win CA Lottery Cougars 91 86 5 Draft 15th Cleveland 64 55 9 23.1% Stars 75 68 7 23.1% Sailors 83 82 1 15.3% Brooklyn 67 69 -2 15.3% Toronto 86 90 -4 7.7% Cincinnati 88 94 -6 7.7% Montreal 63 72 -9 7.7% FEDERAL ASSOCIATION (picks 2,4,6,8,10,12 & 14) TEAM 44PRO 43W +- Odds to Win FA Lottery Keystones 92 81 11 draft 16th Detroit 80 69 11 23.1% Gothams 67 58 9 23.1% Pittsburgh 82 74 8 15.3% Chiefs 75 79 -4 15.3% Washington 71 81 -10 7.7% *-Boston 78 90 -12 7.7% St Louis 69 84 -15 7.7% *Boston pick in round one owned by Cincinnati
WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT CONFIRMED FOR SEPTEMBER Reigning World Middleweight Boxing Champion Archie Rees will face former champ Jorge Cuellar in Liverpool on September 16th in what will be the first sanctioned World Title Fight since 1941. It had been previously announced that Rees would fight in a bout sanctioned by the ABF but his opponent only this week was confirmed to be Cuellar. The former champ until he retired and was stripped of his title in 1939 is now 36 years old and boasts a 42-1-2 career record but has not fight at all since 1939. Rees is 35 and 33-4-1 for his career. He has not fought an official ABF recognized bout since winning the then-vacant title with a second round knockout of Nathan Sears in September of 1941 but has been very active fighting a large number of military bouts and holds the rank of Lt. in the British Army. It will be a long overdue first meeting between the two, who were expected to fight for the title when Cuellar held the belt in the late 1930s but an agreement between the two camps never could be reach. WEEKEND BOUT -Despite the fact that the vast majority of professional boxer are serving in various branches of the military there still are occasional sanctioned fights involving recognized fighters. One such event was held in Youngstown, Ohio over the weekend in which Youngstown native Ed MacKinley (12-5-2) fought to a majority draw in an 8 round tilt against Richard Dunn. The 29 year old Dunn, who calls Eugene, Oregon home, is 23-8-2 and was once considered one of the rising young stars of the sport until falling on hard times with several successive losses in 1940 and 1941. POSTWAR BOOM TO BRING SHIFTS IN PRO CLUBS After the war there is certain to be a shift in more than a few cities so far as baseball and football are concerned along major lines. There will be a new tidal wave of sport, a greater boom than after the first World War in 1919-20. It is almost certain that Los Angeles, on it's way to 6,000,000 population, will be one of the new main centers in both baseball and football. With transportation so far advanced and new improvements coming Los Angeles will be only a few hours away from New York, much less from the Midwest. Los Angeles for some time has been one of the big sporting centers. On the same afternoon I have seen 93,000 at a East-West Classic game in Santa Anna with more than 65,000 headed for the big horse race only a few miles beyond. Los Angeles has known football crowds, plus track and field throngs at the Olympic games above 100,000. How many other cities can match this? As a FABL city I doubt that any two other towns could outdraw this fast-growing metropolis. Los Angeles isn't the only present minor-league city now out to break into the big-league show. Milwaukee is another. So is Houston. Baltimore just might deserve another chance in baseball and certainly one for football. The Cannons failures in that city might lie in mismanagement as the Maryland city goes crazy over football every year with crowds of 40,000 to 50,000 coming out to see St Blane or Rome State tussle with Annapolis Maritime. ***Philadelphia Will Lose One of Teams*** Philadelphia almost is sure to lose one of it's FABL teams. The Sailors are a solid team, and in a pennant race but even the lowly Washington Eagles are outdrawing them this season. San Francisco seems to be a likely location and perfect travel parter if, or when, Los Angeles arrives in the big leagues. Football will likely be first as the rush to expand the American Football Association, and put down all of the would be challenger leagues that are making plenty of noise right now, will be at the top of the football magnates list of things to do when the war is finally over. In addition to the cities that make up the present major grid league those under consideration include Los Angeles, Baltimore, Buffalo, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and New Orleans. One point to think about is not all members of the present big league make any financial killing. New York and the Chicago Wildcats head the pack. And the Detroit Maroons have done well. But Brooklyn has lost good money and Cleveland has had a hard go of things which is part of the reason the Finches agreed to merge with St Louis this year. ***Coast Leans Heavily to College Football*** Pro football has never been any too hot on the coast for two reasons. It hasn't been any too well handled and California is all out for college football and it's varies rivalries, leading to the East-West Classic show. I have seen a few all-star pro teams, even in Los Angeles, that never come close to a sellout. It will be interesting to watch this rush to pro football when the fighting ends. It at least will be a big break for the players who can sit back and take the top offer. But first they will have to be sure they will collect. There should be enough room for two major leagues in football, just as there is in baseball with the same World Championships Series arrangement for the windup. But the battle to establish the second league easily may be a wild and woolly affiar, with no help coming from Jack Kristich and the AFA boys. I don't believe any one can doubt there will be a large and active postwar boom in every form of sport. There are too many reasons for this to happen, with some 10 million soldiers and sailors looking for new excitement. Whether or not this boom can match the quality of the previous conflict that gave us the emergence of Max Morris, Urban Dane and a 20 team AFA as well as many others in those high altitudes is something only the next few years can determine. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 8/13/1944
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Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal
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