FABL - Detroit Dynamo's - Rise from the Ashes - Page 3

DD Martin · 03-31-2021, 06:37 PM

Spring Training seems to long!

When your a bad team and it shows this early in spring training, it makes the spring seem like it is going to take forever. The regular season will probably be like that too. Things are looking pretty dire in Detroit but that wasn't unexpected. We knew this was going to be a long process.

Last week during our spring games we went 1-5 to bring our spring record to 3-9. Somehow the Washington Eagles who have a lot more talent on their team are 1-11 and we have beaten them twice so far this spring.

Week 2 Spring Training Results
Monday - New York Gothams vs Detroit 6-1 Loss
Tuesday - Detroit @ St. Louis 10-2 Loss
Wednesday - Pittsburgh vs Detroit 9-2 Loss
Thursday - Washington vs Detroit 8-6 Win
Friday - Detroit at Philadelphia 4-3 (10) Loss
Saturday - Detroit at Chicago 3-2 Loss

Certainly the 2nd half of the week away from New York, St. Louis and Pittsburgh looked a lot better as far as we won a game and lost one in extras and the other by just a run. The first 3 games of the week we were outscored by a 25-5 count.

Dynamo's Sign New Asst GM

Not that it really matters (other than I hate the message on my team page that I have a position open), the Dynamo's put some pennies together to give DD Martin an Asst GM. In a strange surprise the new Asst GM is one of Martin's former players in Cleveland who put him on waivers at the start of the 1927 Season. Ben Hathaway never really lived up to some of the early promise he had flashed as a minor league guy. After he was drafted in 1921 he was rated the #26 overall prospect in the game. He ended up with a 295 batting average and collected 535 hits (most of those with the Chicago Cougars who claimed him off the waiver wire). His last year in playing in the big leagues was 1929 and he retired last season after spending 6 years trying to get back to the majors.

First Cuts of the Spring

The Dynamo's made their first cuts of spring training reducing the roster from the original 46 to now 38 players in camp trying to via for 23 spots. Some say that the team would like to cut about 30 of the players in camp and trying to find about 7 others off the scrap heap that might be upgrades.

Players being sent down -
1B Red Johnson
3B Hank Koblenz
2B Homer Ray
CF Ollie Williams
LF Jay Buckingham
SP Jack Stemm
SP Fred Hall
SS Tip Harrison (injured for 2 weeks)
P Marty Devorce

Players returning from the injured list
SP Ben Watkins

None of the names on the cut list were huge surprises as the rookie trio of Johnson, Koblenz and Williams were all here just to get some work in with the big leaguers before going down.

SS Tip Harrison going down is simply because he will not be in camp to compete anymore for a job and the most likely plan was for him and 2B Homer Ray to work on their double play combo at AAA Newark.

Rotation Update
The team continues to rotate pitchers in and out of the starting rotation to get a good look at things. This week's starters in the teams 7 games is below:

Ray Benson 0-1 3.60 5IP (@ Boston)
Ben Watkins 0-0 0.00 spring debut (@ New York) - pitch count 50
Ray McCarthy 0-0 0.00 3.2IP (vs St. Louis)
Jack Wood 0-1 3.12 8.2IP (@ Pittsburgh)
Earle Killebrew 0-0 0.00 4IP (@ Washington)
Ray Lee 0-1 6.00 6IP (vs Philadelphia)
Chuck Calvert 0-1 4.50 8IP (@Chicago)

Next week will be a big week, for C Dave Armstrong as he is fighting to save his job. If the season started today it looks like Jim Kyle and Red Jackson would be splitting the catching duties.

Its also a big week for 1B Bill Moore in his quest to make the Opening Day lineup. Moore is only hitting 200 so far this spring with no extra base hits so he is going to need to really show something this week to have a shot. The team really wants him to win the job, but if he doesn't he will head back to AAA and try to improve his hitting.

SS John McKinley (333 in spring) is trying to wrestle the starting SS job away from Slim Bloom. Meanwhile 2B Paul McCain hasn't gotten too many chances to show that he should be the starting 2B, especially if Moore doesn't win the 1B job.

Next - Week 3 and hopefully the team shows signs of a little life

DD Martin · 04-05-2021, 07:27 PM

Spring Training Ends......Thankfully

The Dynamo's walked off the field after their final spring training game (a 3-1 loss to Washington) left them and the Eagles tied for the worst spring records in baseball at 6-18. For the Eagles they are in much better shape and their spring results are somewhat surprisingly. Unfortunately for Detroit the spring record indicates that there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.

Roster turnover is likely to be very high and the front office will be looking for every little crumb other organizations will be casting away. Below are the spring training stats for the Dynamo's.

The Detroit World
Saturday April 11th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Dynamo's trade minor league Brown for Hank Spencer from Chicago

In a continuing effort to find anyone with an arm that can throw a baseball over the plate, the Dynamo's traded Joe Brown who went 10-7 with an ERA over 4.50 at Class C to the Cougars for former prospect Hank Spencer (26). Spencer was once considered the #38 prospect in the FABL but his career hasn't quite lived up to that expectation. His career record is just 3-6 with a 5.61 ERA (all last season). Detroit is hoping that he can find his pitching mojo and become something of an improvement over other pitchers returning from last season.

The Detroit World
Sunday April 12th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Dynamo's swing a deal with Cleveland for 4 players

In the trend of picking through the bones the Dynamo's and their GM's former team the Cleveland Foresters completed a trade. The Dynamo's will send just a 10th round pick to Cleveland and in return will pick up 4 players the Forester's deemed didn't fit on their roster. The players include SP Carl Bragg, 1B/OF Ray Cochran, 2B/U Juan Sarmiento and SS Pat Schuring. All 4 players who are out of options look destined for Detroit's opening day roster.

One would ask why would Detroit send a low draft for 4 guys who were going on the waiver wire and they could have picked up there? With Cleveland in the CA and Detroit in the FA that meant that all CA teams would have priority over Detroit in the waiver wire claims. So the Dynamo's decided they would send the pick to give Cleveland (who was hoping some would fall back to them and they might have) something for losing organizational depth.

Right now the "prize" appears to be SP Carl Bragg who 23-18 record and a 4.21 ERA in parts of 4 major league seasons with the Forester's. Bragg was likely the one player that Detroit coveted most even though he spent all of last season in AAA at Cincinnati going 9-4. In our estimate Bragg will slot #3 in a still very porous Dynamo rotation.

SS Pat Schuring is a light hitting but steady defensive SS who will likely be in the opening day lineup.

The Detroit World
Sunday April 12th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Dynamo's nab once great 3B Joe Masters in a minor deal

Detroit has become the home for reclamation projects as they sent an 11th round draft pick to the Chicago Cougars for 3B Joe Masters. Master until last season was considered the best power hitting 3B in FABL history, but it appears age has caught up with him. Last season Master hit just 224 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI's. He will get a chance to add to his career totals and maybe sell a few season tickets in Detroit while the Dynamo's wait for the arrival of 3B Hank Koblenz (expected maybe sometime in 1938 or 1939).

Next - The Opening Day Roster is Announced (Did Detroit find 23 players worthy of being on the big league team?)

DD Martin · 04-05-2021, 10:23 PM

The Detroit World
Monday April 13th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Pre-Season Predictions

First off we will go over the Federal Association, and yes we are picking our Dynamo's to finish DEAD LAST, but they should show a little bit of improvement. The FA is going to be very competitive this season but I really like the top 3 teams below.

Federal Association -

1.) New York Gothams - Still have the best pitching staff in the FA and winners of last years World Series. Unless they see a major injury to SP Rabbit Day, Jim Lonardo, Harlan Bates or Curly Jones, we see the Gotham's again holding on for the 6th time in 11 seasons. The national publication has the Gotham's falling to 70 wins and 7th place but reports are that the writer was drunk when he was penning that fine prediction.

2.) St Louis Pioneers - Last year they came up just short. This year it looks like it might be another runner up spot for the Pioneers. They have brought young SP Dixie Lee to support Allen Award winner Sam Sheppard. To have a serious shot Sheppard will have to come very close to repeating his 28-7 record from a year ago and they will need Lee to have a very strong rookie season.

3.) Chicago Chiefs - This could be the sleeper team of the year, but they are making bold moves to maybe surprise everyone. On the eve of the season opener the Chiefs made a deal to acquire highly thought of C Tom Bird to Chicago along with fine hitter Frankie Cohen. The Chiefs also brought up their top pitching prospect SP Al Miller in another bold move to try and bring the FA title back home to Chicago.

4.) Pittsburgh Miners - SP Walter Murphy and Bill Ketterman anchor the starting rotation but the Miners are in search of those #3 and #4 starters. One of those spots should be occupied by top prospect Lefty Allen who should be up sooner rather than later. Miners have a very good starting C in George Cleaves but I think they need to make a significant move before veteran 1B Lou Kelly (34) begins to fade. They have a very young OF that they will be relying on.

5.) Boston Minutemen - Another team that just feels like it is a player or two away. They could use another high end SP to join Charlie Stedman and Dick Higgins in the rotation and they would have been a team that really could have benefitted from C Tom Bird. They seem to be missing that one big thumper bat in the middle of their order.

6.) Washington Eagles - The national publication has the Eagles finishing 2nd, but we think that is a year or two too early. The young Eagles have a lot of talent that could be in the majors this season. They are a team to watch, but I don't see them finishing in the upper division at this time.

7.) Philadelphia Keystones - Hard to imagine a team with 1B Rankin Kellogg and RF Bobby Barrell finishing this low, but without some upgrades in their pitching staff, it looks like the Keys could be entering the area where Detroit was in 1934.

8.) Detroit Dynamo's - We will have a full detail report on the Dynamo's but needless to say they are everyone's pick to finish last. Improvement yes, but still last.

Continental Association
Some are writing off the the Cleveland Forester's because they believe age is catching up and because of the lack luster spring training they had. The CA still appears to be a 2-horse race and the real question is, can Brooklyn shake the ghost of the Ferdinand Hawkins curse?

1.) Cleveland Foresters - The end of the line is coming for 1B Max Morris but he should have enough left in the tank to get past the 700 home run mark (he stands at 691) and will the Clevelander's to another title. But with the early spring injury to C TR Goins, everyone is reminded of the growing concern of age creeping in.

2.) Brooklyn Kings - Hawkins Curse Rule! The Kings have to believe in themselves as they have by far the best pitching in the CA. Yes they have all the Barrell's and Lightbody's one would want, but until they can extinguish the ghost of Hawkins I can't pick them.

3.) Montreal Saints - I think this team is on the verge of truly making this a 3-team race but the trade of SP Bill Anderson might be something they regret this year. They need to find someone to fill that void and in the Bird trade they acquired a young SP in Bill Ross. 1B Vic Crawford is my pick to finally break through and win the CA's Whitney Award.

4.) Chicago Cougars - Best minor league in the FABL from top to bottom. Yes Baltimore has the edge in top pitching prospects, but no one is even close to the amount of young talent the Cougars have. What they need now is to hope that the top end talent in 1B Leo Mitchell, CF Roy Moore and the guy looking for a position Ray Ford take hold. They also need a bounce back player of the year P Tom Wilcox to show his former greatness before injury derailed his last 2 seasons.

5.) Toronto Wolves - Bit of a surprise here but we like the Wolves and for them to finally show their true potential. They have a nice rotation of Otis Cook, Chuck Cole and Jake Smith. They need Art Blake to find his control to really emerge as a force in rotation. The offense is young, but has some really nice pieces in it.

6.) Philadelphia Sailors - The national publication has them finishing 2nd but we see the CA 3-6 spots really up for grabs. SP Williams Jones is always hanging around the conversation as the top pitcher in the CA. The offense has let them down the last few years and if they don't improve there then it will not be a championship season in Phily.

7.) New York Stars - They traded John Lawson and the combo on 1B Dave Trowbridge and 2B Pete Layton are getting old. They have some nice pitchers in Lou Martino with Les Zoller and Harry Carter but the latter two struggled some last year.

8.) Baltimore Cannons - This will be the last year that the Cannons should be picked to finish last. They have a prospect rotation of riches that should start to come of age in time for next year with Rufus Barrell II, Rusty Petrick, John Edwards and Gus Goulding. Those 4 kids are all in the top 18 in all the FABL prospects lists. They need to concentrate on finding some offense to go with those arms but they should start to become a force as early as next season.

World Series for the 3rd straight year, New York and Cleveland and I'll go with the Forester's one last time (My personal bias coming in here) to take it home.

DD Martin · 04-06-2021, 01:05 PM

The Detroit World
Monday April 13th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Let's Meet the 1936 Dynamo's

A lot of changes have been made to this team, will it help on the field who knows. But let's meet the Opening Day Detroit Dynamo's for what it is worth.

Pitching
SP Chuck Calvert (32 - RHP) Last Season 2-3 1 save 3.12 ERA in Detroit in 21 relief appearances. Just to show how desperate the pitching situation in Detroit is, career RP Calvert will make just his 3rd start since 1929 when he started 15 games for the Gothams. He is the opening day starter against his old team New York and one of their aces Rabbit Day. Good luck Chuckie!

SP Jim Crawford (30 - LHP) Never has a 2-6 5.43 SP looked so good, but in Detroit that is what a #2 SP looks like. Crawford will need to cut down on the baserunners he allowed last year 106 hits and 22 walks in 69.2 innings to have a shot a being effective. #2 SP in the rotation

SP Carl Bragg (27 - RHP) Just acquired from GM Martin's old team in Cleveland, Bragg has a 23-19 big league won/loss record and a decent 4.23 career ERA. The question is with Bragg despite the moderate success when given a chance as a SP, is he really a SP or a RP? #3 SP in the rotation

SP Hank Spencer (26 - LHP) Acquired in spring training from the Chicago Chiefs where he was 3-6 5.61 in 1935. Spencer will get the opportunity he has long desired, a chance to start in the big leagues. He has a deep arsenal but he really needs to work on his control to be successful. #4 SP in the rotation

SP Ben Watkins (26 - RHP)Will likely share the #5 spot in the rotation to start the season with fellow Rule 5 pitcher Ray Lee. He is making the jump from Class A where he was 11-8 until an arm injury derailed him in the Baltimore organization. He will likely be watched closely this season as he returns from injury.

SP Ray Lee (23 - RHP) Lee was also a rule 5 pick up in the off-season and will share the #5 spot with Watkins in the first month or two. He was in AA ball last year and had a 2-5 record with a 4.05 ERA. He is primarily considered a RP by many but will get a few starts to see how it goes.

Bullpen

ST Jim Simmons (28 - RHP) With Calvert in the rotation Simmons takes over the "stopper" role and for some reason he is highly rated by BNN as the #5 and #2 "closer" in league reports. Unfortunately the results in the big leagues really have never been on his side as evidenced by last years 1-2 8.20 ERA in Detroit (he was 2-3 with a 7.29 ERA in Chicago with the Chiefs. Once considered a top 100 prospect, but not anymore.

RP George Coleman (28 - RHP) Came over as another Rule 5 player from Cleveland. He was 9-7 with AAA Cincinnati in 1935 with a 4.73 ERA. He will be the likely #2 arm out of the bullpen and may be given a shot at starting at some point.

RP Ray Benson (29 - LHP) Rounding out the bullpen is left hander Ray Benson who was picked up on waivers from St. Louis during the off-season. He was 2-2 with a 6.46 ERA with the big league team in 35 but showed some promise in the hitter happy GWL (AAA) with a 7-3 4.91 effort.

Summary - The pitching could be argued is improved over last season, maybe. Time will tell but this team should still be looking for a lot of arms for the future as not many of these guys really look to be a part of the long term plan.

Position Players Bold denotes starter

C Red Jackson (30 - RH) Acquired from New York for an 8th round pick. He takes over the starting catcher duties. He is projected to hit around 270 and is likely a league average receiver.

C Les Dunbar (32 - RH) Was a waiver claim (familiar theme in Detroit) after having fallen out of favor in St. Louis. He is a career 284 hitter in the big leagues and will be given an opportunity to stick as the backup here surprisingly over last year's 2nd half starting C Jim Kyle who is in Newark (mainly because he had an option).

1B Ray Cochran (30 - RH) Acquired in a late spring trade with Cleveland (he and 4 others were DFA assignment and packaged for a 10 round pick). Cochran is a 270 hitter in limited chances (playing behind Max Morris in Cleveland) to show what he can do. He will get an opportunity here because management decided prospect Bill Moore wasn't ready after a rough spring.

2B/1B Claude Merrill (27 - RH) Merrill showed power hitting 45 pro home runs between AA-AAA and the majors. 15 of the homers where with the Dynamo's and the team has tried him in LF, 3B and 1B besides his "natural" 2B position. He is in the lineup for his pop so hopefully he finds it as his bat disappeared during spring training.

SS Pat Schuring (28 - RH) Blocked in Cleveland by George Dawson, Schuring was DFA but added to the care package from Cleveland trade. He will get a shot to immediately start in Detroit as a solid defensive SS with limited offensive talent (career 255 hitter) but did hit 409 last season (we won't say how many at-bats he got...22)

3B Joe Masters (36 - LH) Long time Chicago Chief terrorized the FA for many years and has hit 264 career home runs. Not sure what he has left in the tank but he will get the shot to be the everyday 3B here in Detroit and chase career home run #300 (not bloody likely)

2B Lynn Gray (28 - RH) and 2B Juan Sarmiento (22 - LH) Both are team captains and can play multiple positions. Gray was a waiver claim last season with Detroit and Sarmiento came in the Cleveland package on the eve of Opening Day. One is right handed, one is left, one is 28 and one is 22. Other than those differences they are pretty similar.

3B/1B Chief Raymond (29 - RH) Raymond hit 309 last season with 8 home runs and 56 RBI's after taking over for the departed Frank Vance. He was looking likely to be the starting 3B until the acquisition of Joe Masters. Still he is likely to see considerable playing time if Masters doesn't cut it.

SS/U Slim Bloom (30 - RH) SS hit 247 last season but lost the starting job when Pat Schuring was acquired. Was likely only holding onto it until minor league prospect Tip Harrison or Frank Davis was deemed ready. Neither are so here he is.

LF Henry Jones (31 - LH) The Dynamo's tried everything they could to trade Jones last year and it had an impact on his performance. His batting average went down (308 in 34 to 276 last season) and his power numbers fell as well (24-124 in 34 to 14 and 72 in 35). While the team hopes for a rebound, he is likely still on the trading block. There is just nobody really ready in the organization to take his spot.

CF Jose Serna (23 - RH) Rookie hit 316 in 225 PA's last year with the Dynamo's after coming over in the block buster Brooklyn deal. He didn't really flash his speed much (nor did anyone else) and one has to figure that will play a bigger role in his game this season.

RF Howard Moss (30 - RH) After being acquired at the deadline last season Moss hit 294/382/936 with 11 home runs and 52 RBI's in 54 starts. If he can come close to that production this season in a full slate of games the Dynamo's will have at least 1 hitter to put some fear in the opposing pitchers.

OF Joe Goodwin (24 - RH) The Rule 5 OF who has the nickname the "Demon of Demopolis" is an interesting prospect. He has some pop but he also likes to take his hacks.

Summary of the position players - Last year's offense was the worst in the FA and right now it doesn't look like it is going to be much better. The team needs a rebound from LF Henry Jones. 2B Claude Merrill to hit like he did at least power wise last season, and for RF Howard Moss to be the player he was after coming over from Chicago. If 3B Joe Masters has anything left in the tank that would be a plus. The team has to be looking forward to the arrival of 1B Red Johnson and 3B Hank Koblenz, but that is a few seasons away.

Overall Summary - While I expect the team to win more than 43 games, the question is how many more. Should have a chance to win 50 and if everything comes together avoid losing 100+. The pitching will have to show better than last seasons abysmal effort though. Its going to be a long season in Detroit but the real question is who will they select at #1 next draft or will they trade the pick?

DD Martin · 04-06-2021, 03:55 PM

The Detroit World
Tuesday April 14th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Missed Opportunity?

As we prepare for Opening Day festivities here in Detroit rumors have been circulating that the Dynamo's were close to landing C Tom Bird (311/410/865 5-43 71GS 86G) from the Montreal Saints. As over 14,000 fans gather to see the Dynamo's Chuck Calvert take on the defending World Series Champion New York Gotham's and their starting pitcher Rabbit Day. Just how close were the Dynamos to acquiring such a superior talent?

Well sources close to the team indicate that while the Dynamo's never made a confirmed offer, that several names were bandied about including minor league 2B Homer Ray, SS's Frank Davis and Tip Harrison and perhaps even SP Jack Wood. Instead of coming to Detroit the Saints packaged Bird and Rule 5 1B Frankie Cohen to the rival Chicago Chiefs who are looking to make a serious run at the Fed title this season. Going to the Saints were 2B Red Moore and SP Bill Ross.

The question remains what would it have taken to land the 28-year-old team captain here in Detroit? Most likely it would have cost #4 prospect SP Earle Robinson and either Ray, Davis, or Harrison.

Was it the right call to pass?

Next - The Opening Week

DD Martin · 04-07-2021, 11:58 AM

The Start of a Very Long Season of AA Baseball in Detroit

A crowd of 14,660 came to see the Dynamo's in their season opener against the defending World Series Champion New York Gothams. Somehow we had suckered a 20.5% increase (+646) in season ticket sold. Guess what they say is true, there is a sucker born every day and in Detroit maybe it was 2 every day.

Game 1 - New York Gothams 1 vs Detroit Dynamos 0
Chuck Calvert pitched a 5-hitter for Detroit and deserved a much better fate. The problem was NY SP Rabbit Day tossed a 3-hitter and the Gotham's managed a run in the top of the 5th.

Game 2 - New York Gothams 9 vs Detroit Dynamos 1
The good news is Detroit scored it first run of the season in the first inning. The problem here was that they were already down 3-0 before that run scored. Gotham's wasted little time toying with the Dynamo's in this one.

Game 3 - New York Gothams 7 vs Detroit Dynamos 0
The game was much closer than it appears as Hardin Bates outdueled Jim Crawford through 8 innings 2-0. Tom Bray decided to put our stopper into the game probably to get him some work and boy does he need it. The #2 or #5 RP in FABL (depending on what you look at...oy vey) was rocked for 5 runs in just 2/3 of an inning. Of course we are ignoring the part where we were shut out for the 2nd time in 3 games and have managed just 1 run in 27 innings....at home even!

Summary - And I guess that is why our Detroit report Freddie Farhat picks the Gotham's to once again win the Fed. Pitching, pitching, pitching. Of course it didn't help that our hitters look like a little league team so far. It has to be better, I hope.

We move onto St. Louis as we open the season against New York, St. Louis and Chicago which are considered the top 3 teams in the Fed this year. At least St. Louis pitching isn't as good as New York's.

Game 4 - Detroit Dynamos 3 @ St Louis Pioneers 4
Look at that offense, 3 runs and we actually had the lead going into the bottom of the 9th. Looks like Manager Tom Bray had no faith in anyone in our bullpen (even Jim Simmons and his 67.00 ERA) and SP Hank Spencer wore out in the ninth. The Pioneers scored 2 in the inning capped off by 1B Frank McCormick's walk off single. Wish we had a Frank McCormick on our team.

Game 5 - Detroit Dynamos 7 @ St. Louis Pioneers 9
Detroit scored more runs in this one than they did in the first 4 games of the season. Unfortunately a couple of errors, 6 walks by our SP and 4 unearned runs out of 9 will get you a loss in this league on most days. St. Louis SP Sam Sheppard got the win, but he did not look like last years Allen Award winner in the Fed as he gave up 12 hits and 6 earned runs. Ray Cochran hit Detroit's first home run of the season.

Game 6 - Detroit Dynamos 1 @ St. Louis Pioneers 7

SP Chuck Calvert obviously disappointed in the lack of run support in his first start decided to make sure this one was over early. Of course our 3 errors didn't help. It was 4-1 after 2 innings and everyone knew that with the way our offense was going the game was over.

Summary - At least we scored 11 runs in this 3 game set as opposed to the 1 run against the Gothams. Scoring 2 RPG will not get you many wins and because of our offense we start the year 0-6. Counting last season that is a 17-game losing streak, but fortunately we do not try and think about last season. We are last or close to last in every offensive category but somehow we have 12 extra base hits. We have done little with those extra base hits so far though and only 1 was a home run.

The pitching (Team ERA of 4.73) is much better to start the year than last season's effort of x.xx. The starters are actually giving us a chance with a 4.06 ERA (5th in the league!).

Unfortunately we did have a locker room incident.....

The Detroit World
Monday April 20th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Dynamo's Pitching Coach FIRED! After Ugly Locker Room Incident

The stress of losing was apparently too much as pitching coach John Armstrong was fired Sunday. After another loss to start the season 0-6, Armstrong and manager Tom Bray nearly came to blows with each other. It appeared Armstrong was upset by the complete lack of run support given by the team and it just escalated from there.

Team GM DD Martin chimed in after the dust settled "There is no place in a professional baseball locker room for that type of outburst. Jack Armstrong has been dismissed for his actions. AAA pitching coach Bill George will take over and was signed to a 2-year extension just yesterday. George will join the team in Chicago tomorrow."

There have been rumors that Martin has been looking at manager Bray's entire coaching staff. The crew put together before he arrived when poor Tom Bray was wearing so many hats is not exactly the caliber of coaching staff one would expect. I wouldn't be shocked if more changes are coming, especially if the hitters don't start hitting.

Minor League Report

The minor league baseball season starts in a few days and there is some excitement in Detroit to see how some of the youngsters the team added in the off-season far at their various locations. Of course most eyes will be on the Class C (rookie league) Biloxi Billies as 1B Red Johnson and 3B Hank Koblenz begin their professional careers. Many eyes will also be on AAA Newark as SP Ray McCarthy will pitch in the opening day game in Syracuse against the Excelsiors.

Also a pair of retired former players make their coaching debuts as former C Dick York (manager) will be joined by former SP Max Wilder (pitching coach) at Class A Terre Haute. Former SP John Booker also makes his debut as a pitching coach at Class C Biloxi.

Look for expanded coverage of the minor league system this year as it will probably be more interesting than what is going on at the major league level in Detroit.

League Team Power Rankings -

I don't normally pay much attention to this but since I have never seen a negative power ranking I figured I'd share it.

DD Martin · 04-07-2021, 12:25 PM

1936 Week 2 Recap April 20th-26th 1936

I had a dream last night about a drink than can help baseball executives during the rough times. Unfortunately it was about 100 years in the future and I am not sure this beverage is available. But I will be on the lookout for something called Capt n Coma to try and get me through this season. If I find it I will also give some to our manager Tom Bray. Some people have said I should fire him but I think what is really needed is a better supporting cast around him. Not only players but coaches. Last week a certain former pitching coach forced my hand earlier than I had planning to replace him, but once we started on that mission we decided that we might as well make improvements elsewhere. To that end we fired mid-week our bench coach, some oaf named Morrie "fats" Lard and we replaced him with another of my former employees from Cleveland, Dave Adams. After poor Dave was demoted as manager and then let go, he hasn't found any baseball jobs, so I decided to give him one.

We did get our first win of the season, a 3-2 nail bitter over the Chicago Chiefs in game 9 of the season.

The Detroit World
Monday April 27th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

The Dynamo Week in Review

Fans of the Dynamo's have to be wondering what is going on with this team. Last year they had the worst pitching in the history of organized pro baseball, and this year it is the hitting that is at epic levels of pathetic. Somehow with bailing wire, duct tape and molasses the Dynamo pitching staff is rated #5 in the Fed with a team ERA of 4.49 and the starters somehow throwing together a 4.01 ERA. Unfortunately the lack of wins that the team is suffering from is strictly do to a floundering offense that is scoring 2.08 runs per game. Yes you read that last number right, the Dynamo offensive engine is definitely missing a spark plug or two (some would say the entire engine).

Game 7 - Detroit Dynamos (0-6) 2 @ Chicago Chiefs (5-1) 3
The teams traded zeros through 7 innings as Chiefs SP Charlie Bingham and Dyno's SP Jim Crawford looked sharp. With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th LF Jim Hampton hit a single, which was the first of 3 straight (2B Len Jones and C Tom Bird) to bring across the 1st run. A groundout produced the 2nd run and then a walk and single by SP Bingham made it 3-0. The Dynamo's actually tried to mount a comeback in the top of the 9th scoring 2 runs (Hey they got their average) but the game ended with SS Pat Schring's groundout with runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Game 8 - Detroit Dynamos (0-7) 1 @ Chicago Chiefs (6-1) 3
Another fine pitching effort wasted by an offense than simply can't hit. SP Carl Bragg went to 0-2 on the season but gave up just 3 runs. The problem was former Dynamo hurler SP Jack Beach has found whatever he was lacking in Brooklyn last year and gave up just 6 hits. The game started promising for the Detroit nine as in the first inning RF Howard Moss tripled and Henry Jones drove him in to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Sadly that was it as far as productive offense for the day.

Game 9 - Chicago Chiefs (7-1) 2 vs Detroit Dynamos (0-8) 3
The league leading Chiefs brought the Dynamos home as the teams continued their series. A funny thing happened though at Thompson Field, the Dynamo's scored more than 0-2 runs and actually won a game 3-2. The Dyanmos did all their damage in one inning which was the 7th inning as 1B Ray Cochran hit a 2-run single to give the hometown team a 3-2 lead, and they hung onto it to win their first game of the season.

Hold off on the parade though through downtown Detroit just yet.

Game 10 - Chicago Chiefs (7-2) 5 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-8) 3
Only 3 runs was not enough on this day as the Chiefs picked up single runs in 5 different innings on their way to ending the Dynamo win streak at 1. CF Jose Serna did manage to collect 3 hits in 5 at-bats so at least someone is trying. Sadly his teammates could only must 3 more hits between them.

Game 11 - Chicago Chiefs (8-2) 6 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-9) 2
After the Chiefs embarrassing loss to Detroit on Wednesday they obviously held a team meeting to voice their frustration at having lost a game against at AA Eastern Association club. It was a close game once again going into the 9th with Chicago leading 3-2, but enter BNN's #2 RP in all of baseball Jim Simmons who managed to lower his ERA to 15.88 (after last week it was 67.50 but he did manage a few decent outings including picking up a save in Detroit's lone victory) despite giving up 3 earned runs in the inning.

Game 12 - St. Louis Pioneers(6-5) 7 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-10) 1
St. Louis is off to a less than stellar start as they are 3-5 against real FABL teams but have managed to go 4-0 now against Detroit to hang onto hopes of contending this season. SP Jim Crawford who had managed to pitch very well in his first 2 outings gave up 14 hits and 7 runs. Not that it really mattered as the Dynamo offense is making SP George Kyle look like Tom Barrell so far this season. The Dyno's managed just 4 hits and 1 walk against the pitcher who had a career record of 12-15 before this season.

Game 13 - St. Louis Pioneers (7-5) 4 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-11) 3
SP Carl Bragg was in search of his first win, and things were going well but then the Dyno's went to the bullpen and his former teammate at Cincinnati (AAA -Clev) gave up 2 runs and the Dynamos found another way to lose a 1-run game. After the game Coleman who was a rule 5 pickup from the Foresters was sent back to Cleveland.

Weekly Record 1-6
Season Record 1-12 9GB

Summary - So the Dynamo's might be the first team ever to be out of first place by double digits in less than 3 weeks if things hold true early next week. We also received a special news report from our friends at the Newark Times (below)

Newark Times
Saturday April 25th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Newark Vinnie" Vincent LaGuardia Gambino

Disaster in Newark

The collective groans you hear coming from the West in Detroit is that of Dynamo fans as their prize pitching phenom SP Ray McCarthy went down to a season ending injury in 4th inning of Friday's game. The report is that will have to have surgery to take out bone chips from his $10,000 right arm and will miss the season. Fans in Detroit were really hoping that McCarthy would make the jump to the big league Dynamos before the end of the season. Now they will have to wait for the 22-year-old to hopefully be ready for spring training.

DD Martin · 04-08-2021, 01:02 PM

Week 3 part 1 - The end of April 1936

Before the week started we had 4 games for the rest of April, 1 left vs St. Louis who is 5-0 against us and 3-5 against the rest of the Fed. Then we head to Philadelphia to play the Keystones (5-8) for 3 games. It was a busy week as far as roster moves since we had DFA a lot of guys. Of course nobody else in the league thought our castoffs were worth anything either so they all came crawling back with their bats and gloves.

Several players were not so lucky, C Dave Armstrong (33) had not been a favorite of mine since we arrived so he was cut loose. Also cut loose were P Fred Smith (28 - AAA), P Ernie Miller (33 - AA), RF Jack Siciliano (33 - AAA), 2B Steve Stewart (30 - AA), SS George Drake (29 - AAA), and 2B Skipper Williams (25 - AA). With reluctance we shipped back to Cleveland rule 5 draft pick P George Coleman (0-0 6.00 ERA in 2 relief appearances).

Why all the releases, well we decided to keep a majority of the guys we DFA. P's Don Grossman, Duke Brown were assigned to AAA Newark along with SS John McKinley, and OF Mickey Tompkins. P's Phil Hicks and Taylor Collins were sent to AA Akron and P Al Allen was banished to class C Biloxi.

Some of these moves were also necessitated by our frequent use of the waiver wire trying to bring in talent to the organization. We went to a 10-man pitching staff with waiver claims P Eddie Bloom (from Cleveland) and Jim Hawkins (from Boston) joining the staff. That meant that one of the position players would have to be sent off. The lucky or unlucky soul, depending on how you look at it was 1B/2B Claude Merrill who was hitting just 209/261/587 with 1 home run and 5 RBI's in the first 13 games. He will go down and work out primarily as a 3B to see if he can again find his hitting stroke and have any shot at coming back up to play 3B.

We have more waiver guys waiting their turn to get a shot as P Jim Spencer and CF Jack Burke were added to the 40-man roster but were not assigned any spots yet.

We also made another waiver claim for P Chuck Murphy who was being DFA by the Chicago Chiefs. That claim won't be finished until the end of the week.

So much for all the moves, here are the games that were played between April 27th and April 30th 1936.

Game 14 - St. Louis Pioneers (8-5) 13 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-12) 4
Right now the Pioneers are wishing they could play 100 games versus the Dyanmos instead of only 22 a season. With the blasting today, they move to 6-0 against the Detroit 9. Unfortunately for St. Louis's playoff hopes they will not meet the Dynamo's again until the end of May.

Game 15 - Detroit Dynamos (1-13) 7 @ Philadelphia Keystones (5-8) 0
Last year it took Detroit until the last couple of weeks of the season to shut out an opponent, so doing it in April is a huge accomplishment (again looking for positives here). The offense banged out 15 hits (season high) and 7 runs and was led by leadoff CF Jose Srna 3-5 2R 3RBI, with a double and triple. The real hero was SP Hank Spencer who gave up just 6 hits in going the distance.

Game 16 - Detroit Dynamos (2-13) 3 @ Philadelphia Keystones (5-9) 4 (11 innings)
So close to a winning streak, the Dynamos could almost taste it. SP Chuck Calvert is still looking for his first win of the season (0-3) despite a fine 2.73 ERA in 4 starts. All-FABL RP Jim Simmons took the loss in extra innings but he has managed to lower his ERA to 12.38.

Game 17 - Detroit Dynamos (2-14) 3 @ Philadelphia Keystones (6-9) 2
Well the winning steak was out the window but the first season series win could be had. SP Jim Crawford pitched a 7-hit, 2-run effort in keeping the Keys at bay long enough for as Detroit made its 3-0 lead in the 2nd hold up for the win. Manager Tom Bray was seen celebrating in the dugout, white hair and all as he must have felt like his team just won the World Series.

Summary - So we end up the opening month of the season having played 17 straight games and going 3-14. We won the last 2 out of 3 so maybe better things are ahead like playing 350 baseball the rest of the year.

Player Awards of the Month of April
CA Rookie of the Month goes to Chicago Cougar CF Roy Moore who hit 354 with a home run, 9 RBI's and 8 runs scored.

CA Hitter of the Month goes to former Detroit Dynamo OF Al "The Wonder Wheel" Wheeler who blistered the CA for a 429 batting average with 5 home runs and 24 RBI's and a whopping 20 runs scored. He is almost doing single handedly as much damage as the entire Detroit offense for the month of April.

CA Pitcher of the Month is almost becoming a broken record as the reigning 2-time CA Allen Award winner P Tom Barrell of Brooklyn takes home the honor. For Barrell it is the 6th time he has won the award. In April he went 4-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 43.2 innings as the King's work him hard in the opening weeks of the season.

FA Rookie of the Month goes to league leading Chicago Chief youngster SP Al Miller. Miller has looked sharp in his early career going 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA.

FA Hitter of the Month goes to Pittsburgh Miners 1B Lou Kelly who hit 426 with a home run, 11 RBI's and 14 runs scored. For the veteran Kelly (34) it was his 8th career player of the month honor.

FA Pitcher of the Month goes to the Washington Eagles SP Bill Anderson who seems to be enjoying the change in scenery in the nations capital. the former Toronto Wolves SP went 4-1 in 5 starts with a 3.70 ERA.

Detroit Stars of the month
While not getting the national attention for anyone, the Dynamos announced that SP Hank Spencer was named their pitcher of the month. Spencer went 2-1 with a 2.13 ERA in 3 starts

For the Dynamo hitter of the month there was not a lot to choose from as the team is by far the worst offense in the Fed. In a close vote, CF Jose Serna got the nod by hitting 278/333/736 with 7 RBI's and 6 runs scored. Henry Jones had the better batting average but just didn't generate or produce many runs while hitting 319

Dynamo rookie of the month goes to utility man Juan Sarmiento who hit 353 in just 17 AB's but managed a home run, with 5 runs scored.

DD Martin · 04-08-2021, 03:48 PM

Week 3 pt 2 - May 1st-3rd 1936

As we drink a toast to winning our first series of the season we move into May with high hopes, of what I am not sure. We are roughly 225 days away from the amateur draft which we will have the #1 pick. I tell Director of Scouting Fred Davis to not sleep and to scout like his job depends on it. Honestly it does most likely.

We move to Boston for the start of a quick 2-game set with the Minutemen who just lost their power hitting 1B Bob Donoghue for the season with a ruptured Achilles. He was hitting 358 with 5 home runs and 16 RBI's in 17 games before the injury.

Game 18 - Detroit Dynamos (3-14) 4 @ Boston Minutemen (10-7) 7
No Donoghue for Boston, no problem as the Minutemen had enough offense and enough Dynamo errors to take the first game in the 2-game series.

Game 19 - Detroit Dynamos (3-15) 4 @ Boston Minutemen (11-7) 5
Offensively fireworks early as Boston threw up a 5 spot in the 1st and Detroit came back with 4 in the 2nd. Unfortunately for Dynamo fans that was all the scoring in the game. SP Jim Hawkins after a rough first inning was much better in this game, but his ERA is still over 11.

Game 20 - Detroit Dynamos (3-16) 3 @ Washington Eagles (10-9) 2
Another 1 run game and this time the Detroit 9 come up with a win and hang onto it. Detroit improves their record to 3-6 in 1-run games and SP Hank Spencer picks up his 3rd win (3-1 2.10 ERA) on the season. Spencer in fact has won 3 of Detroit's 4 wins on the season.

Season Record 4-16
Home Record 1-8
Road Record 3-8

Summary - Well overall it was a 3-4 week (our best of the season) and while we are not double digits out of first yet, we are as close as you can get at 9.5 GB. The Fed looks like it is going to be a real interesting and tight race with as many as 6 teams at least hanging around to make it interesting. Detroit will not be one of the 6.

This is also a day where we decided to continue in our pursuit of playing the most players during a season in league history. We continued our assault on the waiver wire grabbing more players who mostly are out of options. So that means we find them room to evaluate them. This is a business and right now we are in the business of building a future contending team. Last season was brutal and this year we hope to make some strides but it will likely be very rough as well.

Making their debuts in Detroit next week will be the following cast of characters. First we will bring up 1B Bill Moore who didn't earn the 1B job in spring training but has looked very good at AAA Newark hitting 436 with 7 doubles and 9 RBI's. We could use some of that production so he gets his shot. Also joining the team for game 2 in Washington on Monday will be OF Jack Burke (via waivers) who will get some starts in CF and move Jose Serna to one of the corners. I don't know if Burke (27) has a long term role here but he will get a shot to impress. Finally among the position players joining the big league club will be catcher Jim Kyle. With the acquisitions of Red Jackson and Les Dunbar, Kyle was the odd man out in spring training. Jackson has struggled so Kyle will replace him on the roster and share time for now with Les Dunbar.

On the pitching side of things we added Jim Spencer, also off waivers and he will slide into the "stopper" role this week while we look at Eddie Bloom in the rotation. Former stopper Jim "Kerosene" Simmons is out of options and hanging onto a big league roster spot by a thread. The only reason Simmons is hanging around is someone in the league office (probably Rufus Barrell) thinks highly of him. Well in Detroit and even Chicago before that Kerosene has started more fires than a weekly arsonist with an ERA last year of 7.63 and this year at 12+. Someone in the league office who rates players should like be fired over this clown being the #3 RP/ST in the FABL.

With 4 guys coming up that means that since we have had no injuries on the big league roster that 4 guys will go down. Remember this a business and right now we are in the business of talent evaluation since we aren't currently in the business of winning baseball. The first causality is probably future Hall of Fame 3B Joe Masters who was hitting 200 in 50 AB's. We talked to Joe and let him know that we were giving him a chance to play 1B in Newark and hit everyday to see if he could find his swagger. We will evaluate him in a month and see how he is doing.

Another player going down is RF Howard Moss who doesn't even resemble the guy who hit 11 home runs and drove in 50+ in 54 games. Moss was hitting 197 in 20 games so while we expect him back he is going to have to hit to get back up. With a catcher coming up in Jim Kyle that meant that Red Jackson who had an option went down. Hopefully Red will get his batting average back in the black soon.

Finally besides Master's demotion the most shocking was probably that of SP Jim Crawford. Crawford was 1-3 with a 4.06 ERA for us so far and with that ERA he is about league average, so why send him down? Again we are evaluating talent and Jim had options. So of all the people we sent down, he probably had the biggest case against such a move.

Summary - Next week we have 2 more at Washington before going to for 3 games. Then we finally have an off-day in the schedule, our first of the season. There will likely be another roster move next week as we did "win" a waiver claim for P Chuck Murphy (from the Chicago Chiefs) and we will have to find him a spot to again evaluate him. Likely candidates for losing that spot barring injury will be Kerosene Simmons or Jim Hawkins. My money is on the Fire Starter!

Next - The Minor League Report and you guessed it some player movement

DD Martin · 04-10-2021, 02:08 PM

The Detroit World
Sunday May 3, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Dynamo Farm Report

AAA - Newark Aces 5-5 T-3rd 2 GB
Manager - Sam Stringfellow (52) Career record 227-222
Pitching Coach - Sam Miles (57)
Hitting Coach - Bob Newell (60)

All eyes were on the Aces and their #1 SP Ray McCarthy as he debuted on opening day. Of course those eyes were all crying as McCarthy would only into the 4th inning before he was in pain on the mound. He successfully under went surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow and will miss the entire season. The Dynamo's are closely watching their #1 pitching prospect and hope that the missed season doesn't stunt his growth too much.

The team has a fairly solid starting rotation as SP Jack Wood (23) (#3 Dynamo pitching prospect) will likely take over the #1 duties for now. Wood is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 2 outings so far. Also being watched at AAA is minor league rule 5 draft choice SP Luis Sandoval. Sandoval (24) hasn't factored into any decisions as of yet, but has been roughed up some with an ERA over 9 in 2 outings. P Donie Scheuermann 1-1 8.03 who spent a lot of time in Detroit last year is hopeful to work on a few things and get back up. But with the glut of pitchers that Detroit has that are out of options, the 27-year-old will begin the year in Newark.

1B Bill Moore (24) who had a poor spring and didn't make the cut for the opening day roster is out to prove that was a fluke. He is hitting 436/468/1083 0-9 with 7 doubles. Moore impressed the brass enough in this 10 game stretch that he is being called up to the Dynamo's and the big league club searches for offense.

What the Dynamo's hope is a future double play combo in the big leagues 2B Homer Ray (308 0-7) and SS Tip Harrison (250 0-5) will be getting plenty of at-bats.

AA Akron Wheels 3-7 7th 6GB
Manager - John Tremain (career record 787-886)
Pitching Coach - Charlie Head
Hitting Coach - Dick Hand

The Wheels currently are devoid of any really highly thought of prospects, but the team does like 1B Ike Myers (278/447/1003 1-8). The left-handed 22-year-old went down with a sore elbow and will be out 10-14 days.

The Akron team does have the Dynamo's best C prospect in the organization in C Gus Vaden (24). Vaden is hitting 400400/867 0-3 in 9 games so far.

There are not any real pitching prospects on the Wheels but they could get some in the very near future and as early as Mid-May. Currently 40-man roster player SP Jack Stemm (26) probably is pitching for his 40 roster spot and needs to have a strong season. The odds are if he is not promoted by the end of the year he will fall off the 40-man in the off-season. Stemm is 0-1 with a 4.24 ERA in 2 outings.

A - Terre Haute Brewers 6-4 3rd 2GB
Manager - Dick York (40) (career record 6-4)
Pitching Coach - Max Wilder (38)
Hitting Coach - Charlie Barry (56) (Not the current Cleveland 3B)

A lot of eyes are on Terre Haute because of the big names on the coaching staff in Manager Dick York and PC Max Wilder. Having just finished their big league careers together in the last game of last season in Detroit, it is only fitting that they start their coaching careers together.

Again the pitching starved Dynamo's are watching SP Earle Robinson (20) who has looked brilliant so far in 2 starts (2-0 1.38 ERA 15 strikeouts in 17 IP). If all goes well in Robinson's next start he will likely be heading up to AA Akron. Robinson is the #2 SP prospect in the Dynamo system behind Ray McCarthy and he was injured for the last 3 months of last season. So they are watching him closely, but are feeling pretty good about him.

Another highly thought of prospect who has been shooting up the OSA's charts since his arrival last season in a trade is SS Frank Davis (19) who made a big jump up to class A after spending last year mainly at class C. He hit 319 in Biloxi last year but is off to a little slower start in the tougher competition of A-ball hitting 237 1-5 so far. The team feels he will adjust quickly but also figures he will likely spend all season in Terre Haute.

Class B - Chattanooga Dynamo's 7-4 3rd 1/2 GB
Manager - Nestor Roman (51) (Career record 80-56)
Pitching Coach - John cane (61)
Hitting Coach - Al Lane (55)

A lot of the Dynamo's mid-range starting pitcher prospects are here in Chattanooga. The #3 pick in the 1934 draft SP Del Burns (2-0 2.70) has looked sharp in 2 outings. As has SP Art Brandon (1-0 4.09). Burns (20) has been improving a lot since his controversial #3 overall choice in the 1934 draft. He is not confusing anyone to be Rufus Barrell II, but he does look like he will provide potential value to the club. Brandon (19) was packaged along with SP Harvey Gaines (20) in a deal last year where Gaines was perceived to be the headliner. An injury to Gaines appears to have flopped those roles and now Brandon looks like the guy who might move up the charts as questions remain about the oft-injury Gaines.

Last year's 2nd Round pick CF Ollie Williams (22) is starting his career leading off for Chattanooga. A lot is expected of Williams (200 1-7) so we will see if he can live up to the high draft status. Another 1935 college player taken in round 4 in last year's draft is SS Jim Parmlelee (22) (160 0-0 25 PA).

OF Vito Jones (24) is a switch hitter who is not a big name on the prospect board is hitting well and is likely to move up soon. Off to a 422/481/970 0-11, he appears to be far advanced to still be in Class B ball.

Class C - Biloxi Billies 6-4 3rd 1GB
Manager - Tony Ross (52) (Career record 72-64)
Pitching Coach - John Booker (39)
Hitting Coach - Moe Davis (36)

The Billies might be the rookie league team with the most eyes on them to start the year. #2 overall draft pick, 1B Red Johnson (18) has hit 367 with 5 home runs, 13 RBI's, 10 runs scored and 14 walks in just 10 games. He is being promoted to class B ahead of the Dynamo's schedule who figured he would be in Biloxi until at least the end of May.

The other highly draft 1935 rookie (#5 overall), 3B Hank Koblenz (19) has gotten off to the fast start as he works to adjust to professional baseball. He is hitting just 122 in his first 10 games with 3 RBI's, but it is very early in the season. He was figured to be here in Biloxi for 2-3 months so if he can heat up in May now that he has seen some of the pitchers, he should still be on target for that promotion.

Other hitting prospects to keep an eye on in Biloxi are 4th round C Eddie Miller, 8th round OF Bob Thomas and 9th round CF Charlie Bowlin.

On the mound, the Billies have 4th round pick SP Floyd Frost (19) who is 2-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 2 starts. 6th round pick SP Ike O'Donnell (19) who is also 2-0 but with an even sharper 0.67 ERA. SP's Harry Frenette (19), Ray Dalpman (19), Jack Riley (21) and Joe Boyd (18) are all being closely watched in the "loaded" rookie league rotation.

DD Martin · 04-11-2021, 03:00 PM

The Detroit World
Monday May 11th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Dynamo Weekly Report

Well it was another rough week for the Dynamo's. The offense finally showed some signs of life for the first time this season averaging over 4 runs per game (4.3) but the pitching which had been overachieving by most accounts picked this week to fall off. The team went 1-5 as we review the games that they played.

Game 21 - Detroit Dynamos (4-16) 6 @ Washington Eagles (10-10) 7
SP Chuck Calvert threw 8 solid innings but stayed on into the 9th and that was a mistake. The rallied for 3 runs in the 9th and came back to shocked Detroit 7-6. RP Jim Spencer took over the "arson role" for the Dynamos and didn't fail his new team blow his first save and taking the loss.

Game 22 - Detroit Dynamos (4-17) 5 @ Washington Eagles (11-10) 11
Eagle SP Bill Anderson (5-1) was great giving up 15 hits and 4 runs, but he was better than Dynamo SP Carl Bragg who give up 13 hits and 10 runs in 7 brutal innings. LF Henry Jones did hit his 2nd home run of the season for Detroit.

Game 23 - Detroit Dynamos (4-18) 8 @ Pittsburgh Miners (12-9) 7
The game was tied 4-4 going into the 9th inning with the Dynamos scoring 4 runs in their half of the 9th. Then it was hold on for what was sure to be another unique bottom of the 9th from a Detroit "Stopper". Jim Spencer just about blew it giving up 3 runs in the bottom half of the 9th but he somehow found a way to avoid disaster. 1B Bill Moore hit his first big league home run of his career in the 3rd inning.

Game 24 - Detroit Dynamos (5-18) 2 @ Pittsburgh Miners (12-10) 7
Dynamos are still searching for their first winning streak of the season as they are now 0-5 following a win. Pittsburgh rookie SP Lefty Allen (2-1) tossed a 7-hitter and his only mistake was giving up a homer to CF Jack Burke who was fresh off the waiver list last week.

Friday - Off day

Game 25 - Detroit Dynamos (5-19) 5 @ New York Gothams (11-12) 6
Just the tonic for the "struggling" Gothams hosting the Detroit 9. It didn't' look good for Detroit going against NY SP Rabbit Day but they somehow managed to stay close. Detroit actually tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the 9th with a run, but guess what....a Detroit RP blew it in the bottom half of the inning. The guilty party this time was a new name to the bullpen fire brigade. Jim Hawkins faced 2 batters giving up a double to pinch hitter Tom Taylor and an RBI single to RF Moxie Pidgeon. Welcome to the arson squad Jim Hawkins.

Game 26 - Detroit Dynamos (5-20) 2 @ New York Gothams (12-12) 10
No need for the "arson squad" to ignite this one. New York is sure happy to see Detroit come to town as they racked up 16 hits in routing Detroit.

The Detroit World
Monday May 11th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Weekly Farm Report

AAA Newark Aces had a nice week going 5-1. SS Tip Harrison won player of the week honors in the Union League going 11-21 with a double, triple and home run with 5 RBI's. 3B Claude Merrill had a nice week as well hitting 3 home runs and 8 RBI's. His glove work playing 11 games at 3B hasn't been bad either. Maybe he has found his "new"position.

AA Akron Wheelers seem to be channeling their inner parent club going 0-6 on the week and 3-13 on the season. SP Jack Stemm had a decent outing going 8.2 IP and giving up 3 runs in a loss. The team will get some help next week with the expected arrival of Class A SP Earle Robinson (3-0 0.95).

A Terre Haute Brewers went 6-1 during the week behind SS Frank Davis 8 RBI's and 407 batting average. The Brewers are 12-5 on the season and are 3 games out of 1st place. They will lose SP Earle Robinson to Akron but they are replacing him with SP Del Burns (2-1 3.06) from class B. SP Hank Weyenberg had a nice week going 2-0 in 15.1 IP with a 2.93 ERA

Class B Chattanooga Dynamos won 4 out of 6 games to improve their season record to 11-6. With Burns moving up SP Art Brandon will take over the #1 SP role. He is 1-0 on the season with a 3.63 ERA. All eyes were on 1B Red Johnson in his debut at the higher level. Johnson who hit 5 home runs in 2 weeks in class C didn't connect with any here. But he hit a respectable 261 with 3 doubles and drove in 4 runs. The offense star of the week went to RF Frank Buchanan who hit 450 on the week before suffering a mild quad strain. He is expected to be d-t-d for 2 weeks but will likely see limited action.

Class C Biloxi Billies went 4-2 on the week to up their record to 10-6 on the season. SP Ike O'Donnell continues to impress moving his record to 3-0 on the season with a 0.45 ERA. If he has another solid outing this coming week he will likely get a shot at Class B after that. 2B Howard Rice who didn't get many opportunities last season to play is making the most of the ones he gets this year. He hit 353 on the week in 4 starts and scored 5 runs.

DD Martin · 04-13-2021, 01:11 AM

Finally a Winning Week and a Winning Streak

It took awhile, but finally the Dynamo's had a winning week going 4-3. We also had and are still riding our now season high 2 game winning streak as we won the last 2 games of the week. With the wins our record now stands at 9-24 on the season and we are just 2.5 games out of 7th place as the Philadelphia Keystones are struggling almost as much as we are.

So what turned it around for us this week? SP Chuck Murphy (who was a 1st round draft pick in 1930 going 12th to the Montreal Saints. He was then traded to Brooklyn by the Saints in the ill-fated trade that sent SP Milt Fritz to the Saints for a package of players 3B John Langille, CF Bill May, SP Murphy and a 1st round pick. Brooklyn did well in that trade with May and Langille, but gave up on Murphy and shipped him to the Chicago Chiefs for a 4th round pick before we picked him up on waivers a couple of weeks ago) went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA. Murphy (27) has never found the success that his high draft pick slot and overall prospect rating promised (he was once the #19 prospect overall). His career record before coming to Detroit was just 5-13 with a 5.20 ERA. Will he be finally able to live up to the hype? There are many doubters but one never knows. If he can find his form, he isn't too old to break out.

Besides Murphy our pitching overall returned to the better than expected levels (and then some) after a brief hiatus last week. The pitching staff had a 3.06 ERA in our 7 games and if we could find a consistent offense, who knows how many we could have won with that effort. SP Chuck Calvert is still looking for his first win of the season, but it is not entirely his fault. In his start this past week Calvert threw 10 solid innings giving up just 3 runs and yet we lost the game in 13 innings 5-4 (vs Boston). On the season he is 0-4 with an ERA that grew substantially last week and is at 4.31, but if you throw out a bad start he is under 4.00 for the season.

The offense continues to be the enigma for us. While we scored 31 runs (4.4 rpg) which is up, we are still only a FABL worst 3.6 on the season. Now that is greatly up from the horrendous opening two weeks where we barely scored over 2 RPG, but it is still not enough to be competitive in today's game.

We saw a true test of our pitching endurance this week with our home games against Pittsburgh on Thursday and Boston on Friday. A combined 30 innings between those 2 games which we split.

This week's Leaders
SP Chuck Murphy 2-0 1.50 ERA 2GS 18IP 8H 3ER
SP Chuck Calvert 0-0 2.70 ERA 1GS 10IP 11H 3ER
RF Howard Moss 385/514/1168 OPS+199 HR, 5 RBI 7R
3B Chief Raymond 370/433/989 OPS+153 HR 7 RBI 3R
SS Slim Bloom 333/355/855 OPS+ 118 HR RBI 6R

Week Results
Monday May 11th @ New York 8-2 Win
Tuesday May 12th vs Pittsburgh 15-1 Loss
Wednesday May 13th vs Pittsburgh 9-4 Loss
Thursday May 14th vs Pittsburgh 7-6 Win (17)
Friday May 15th vs Boston 5-4 Loss (13)
Saturday May 16th vs Boston 3-2 Win
Sunday May 17th vs Philadelphia 9-3 Win

Roster Moves
We made a lot of moves in the organization this week including another trade. We sent a 6th round pick to New York for OF Pete Thomas we I drafted several years ago in Cleveland. He was traded to New York in the deal that brought 1B Max Morris back home to Cleveland. With the Gotham's loaded outfield mix he hasn't been able to break through, but he will get a chance to play here.

In order to make room for Thomas we decided to return Rule 5 OF Joel Goodwin to the Montreal Saints. Goodwin didn't get a lot of opportunities and if we hadn't made some many deals he would have had a shot at sticking for the year. But he was only 1-14 in the limited action that he saw and despite his "Demon of Demopolis" nickname, he had fallen way down the prospect rankings.

Also making his first (and probably brief) stay in Detroit is P John Briel. He will get a shot at starting this week in a game but expectations aren't high even though the fans seem to like him. He was a waiver claim from Pittsburgh so we need to get a look at him. Making room for him with the arrival of OF Thomas, we decided to send OF John Cannon back to Newark.

Minor League News
In minor league moves we released P Al Allen (from Biloxi) and C Jim Harrison (from Newark). The biggest news of the week for the minor league organization was the promotion of 1935 draft choice SP Ike O'Donnell from Biloxi (C) to Chattanooga (B). In Biloxi he had been 3-0 with 0.35 ERA in 4GS and 26 IP's. The only real knock on him in Biloxi was really just a lack of stamina which we hope to build up in him.

DD Martin · 04-22-2021, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Time to get back on the horse here as the great spring weather we had here in Western Washington is coming to a close. Been enjoying it too much to stay inside and write baseball stories, but now the clouds are coming back the rain is on its way so spring fever is over. Back to Baseball

Last two weeks of May

In May our overall record was 12-17 and while that is not good, it is a far cry better than the 3-14 April we suffered through. In the latter half of the month we even played 500 ball (10-10) which consider where we were when it started 5-21 that is something to hang our hat on. A lot of the improvement can be attributed to our improved play in 1-run games. We are up to 9-10 in those type of contests.

So our record stands at 15-31 overall and we are 14 games behind the Chicago Chiefs in the Federal Association race. Not a surprise there to be sure. The one thing I have to be careful with around the stadium office is our primary owner. "Big Money" Eddie Thompson is not happy with the team or the record. Now coming into this season Big Eddie wanted the team to win the FA. I told him that wasn't happening under any circumstances unless we were going to play in the AA Lone Star Association (Indy league). Still he is very unhappy and some have even said he is angry. While he might not be happy about the losing (who is honestly but it was to be expected), I am fairly pleased that we are showing signs of improvement. My goal this year was to win at least 55 games. Why 55 games, well if we win that many games it means we can't lose 100! We have to play 358 baseball to avoid the century mark in losses so our play will have to pick up some, but I think we can do it.

Top players - (May stats only)
1B Bill Moore 354/480/1.024 2HR 13 RBI's 7 doubles and 17 runs scored
C Jim Kyle 339/397/865 0-9 4 doubles, 2 triples
LF Henry Jones 321/389/907 4-13

Top Pitchers (May stats only)
SP Chuck Murphy 4-0 2.89 ERA 5GS
P Eddie Bloom 0-0 2.7 ERA 13IP .069 WHIP

In our ever continuing need to find pitchers who can actually throw strikes and get out. We acquired SP Chuck Murphy off waivers from the Chicago Chiefs on May 3rd and inserted him into the rotation. It paid off nicely with a month that while not the FA's pitcher of the month, he should have at least been in the conversation. His sterling month did produce some conversations about flipping him but we didn't make any more. I am not sure if this is a mirage or he is finally playing up to his potential in a low leverage situation (starting for a last place club) but he is making an argument that he should stay up with the big club.

1B Bill Moore was in our spring training camp but didn't' have a great camp. The job at 1st base was his for the taking and unfortunately he didn't grab the brass ring. But that didn't discourage him and he went down to AAA Newark and didn't mop and pout, he put up numbers. In the 10 games at Newark before his promotion he hit 436/468/1.083 in 39 AB's. His hard work and good attitude got him the promotion to the big leagues for his first game on May 4th.

DD Martin · 04-22-2021, 08:20 PM

June 1936

Dynamo Record 10-18 .357
Season to Date Record 25-49 8th place 22 GB

You should never be thrilled with a month that sees your record go 10-18 and yet I am not too displeased. We are hanging around and at least the comments that we are hearing from others in the league is "hey Detroit is at least being completive this year). The other factor is we don't have the worst record in the FABL, that honor goes to the Baltimore Cannons right now who are 23-52 in the CA.

June saw the return of several players back up from AAA Newark, but the one that has made the biggest impact has been the bat of IF Claude Merrill. Last year Merrill moved up the ranks once I arrived in town and went from AA to AAA and even played 70 games here in Detroit. This season he opened up with the big league team and struggled. He came up as a 2B but isn't going to remind any globe wizard. He isn't a terrible fielder, I have seen a lot worse, but he doesn't stand out as a top defender. His best position is probably 1st Base but we currently have Bill Moore there and some day Red Johnson will be anchoring the bag at first for 15 years. Merrill has also played 3B some and we continue to explore that option but for him versatility might be a key for his big league career. That and hitting home runs which he does pretty good at. Since coming back from AAA Newark where he didn't exactly earned a return trip, we brought him back anyway and he has responded with a fine June stat line of 308/379/956 with 9 home runs and 24 RBI's. Most people would take that sort of production from an infielder. So no matter what slump he might find himself in, we are going to stick with him the rest of the season.

We also brought back up aging veteran 3B Joe Masters who went 9-32 with a homer and 3 RBI's in 8 games. I have a lot of respect for Joe but he recently announced his retirement at the end of the season. I might try and find him a home on a pennant contender if possible. Right now I don't want to send him back to AAA but I also don't want to send him out there everyday and block someone much younger. Last season we kept C Dick York (because of what he meant to the organization) and added SP Max Wilder (because we needed anyone who could throw a ball and pitch a little bit) on a veterans farewell tour. This season, I'm not as inclined to let this be the rest stop on the way out. Now if Master's had started the year hot and hit a few home runs so he could move up the charts, I was inclined to let it happen. But when he struggled early and we were just 5-21 at one point, I decided we needed to do what was in the best interest of the ballclub. What Joe's fate is will probably be resolved around the All-Star game in a couple of weeks.

Our star hitters of the month of June
2B Claude Merrill 308/379/956 9HR 24 RBI's
3B Chief Raymond 342/402/863 1HR 12 RBI's

Our top pitchers for June
SP Carl Bragg 2-0 3.51 ERA in 6GS started
SP Ben Watkins 2-0 3.89 ERA in 6G and 4GS (Rule 5 draftee)

June Transactions
June saw us remain very busy on the waiver wire as we added P John Briel (Pittsburgh) and at the end of the month added another "team captain" type in LF Irv Brady (Philadelphia Sailors). We also made a trade for a long time target I had when we acquired OF Buck Waldrop (25) from the loaded Brooklyn Kings for minor league SP Bob Haynesworth. Waldrop joins a crowd OF as we DFA recent waiver pick up Jack Burke who went back to Philadelphia (Sailors) which is the team that DFA in May.

We also claimed C Ben Richardson (26) off waivers from Washington. Richardson was a player I traded for in Cleveland and then shipped him out to Washington in the TR Goins deal back in 33. It never really panned out for Richardson in Washington although some could argue he didn't get many opportunities the last season and a half with just 66 PA's in Washington. He will join our catching group with Jim Kyle having taken over for Red Jackson who was sent to Newark and the recently DFA Lou Dunbar who I had hoped would thrive having been given a chance in the big leagues at age 32.

We also had a our share of some injuries in June. Most prominent on this years big league club was SP Chuck Murphy had back stiffness after a start on June 17. We placed him on the IL more as a precaution than anything else and we expect him back most likely right after the All-Star game.

For our future seeing SP Earle Robinson have his season cut short at the end of May (news travels slow in this era). He was struck on the elbow of a line drive while pitching and it fractured his elbow. The kid (20) was 3-0 at class A Terre Haute with a 0.95 ERA. In May we had promoted him to AA Akron where he went 3-0 with a 3.46 ERA in 4 GS. He is a top 35 prospect so seeing his season coming to an end is a blow. We will work to get him ready for next spring where he will open the year at AA and hopefully stay healthy and get to AAA in the 2nd half of the year. He makes the 2nd of our highly touted young SP to hit the shelf to a season ending injury (SP Ray McCarthy prospect #25 overall went down earlier).

Another SP in the minors while not as highly touted but one that I like a lot also went down to an injury at the end of June. This one while only hoped to last for 2 weeks is a scary one as it looks like a strained rotator cuff (we call it a sore shoulder in 1936). Hopefully this isn't the start of a trend as he also had a sore shoulder in April. We will sit him down and evaluate him in a couple of weeks. He is 5-3 with a 1.82 ERA at Akron (AA) which is one of the reason why we are high on him. The scouting service only has him rated as our #29 prospect and somewhere in the 300-350 range on the big board.

Next - The first week of July and the All-Star voting

DD Martin · 04-22-2021, 10:11 PM

The Detroit World
Monday July 6th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Trades, trades and more trades

The FABL trade deadline is at the end of July, but what has become an increasing custom in the FABL is that the trading season usually starts in June. This year the Chicago Chiefs and New York Stars got things started with the Stars sending veteran 2B Pete Layton (36) to the Chicago Chiefs for 4 minor leaguers (SP John Douglas 24, SP Mike Sanders 25, SP Monk Lemon 23, and CF Charlie Felder 20).

Detroit also got in the act on this day with the previously mentioned OF Buck Waldrop acquisition from Brooklyn.

The real fireworks started around the Nations birthday and by the end of that week 4 very big deals were reached. The surprising thing was 3 of the 4 deals had last years World Series Champions, the New York Gothams selling off players.

In the first trade of the day the Gotham's shocked the baseball world when it woke up with the trade of superstar SP Rabbit Day (10-2 3.25 ERA) and a 3rd round pick to the Chicago Chiefs for the Chiefs 1st round draft pick, 1B/OF Ed Reyes (23), 3B Billy Dalton (22) and SP Gary Heuser (26). The Gothams who ended the day at 39-41 appear to have thrown in the towel on the season, but there was more to come.

Shortly after the announced trade of Rabbit Day, the Gotham's struck again with lightening speed sending LF Moxie Pidgeon (who has won 2 straight World Championships with Cleveland and New York) and SP Jack Elder (25) to the Washington Eagles of all teams for the Eagles 1st round pick (which could still be a top 5 pick in the draft and before this deal could have been top 3) and 3 minor league players (CF Earl West #173, 1B Dick Canfield #160 and SP Fred Ratcliffe). The surprise was that the Eagles are just 34-45 this season and the acquisition of Pidgeon likely will not be enough to get them to 500 this year, but it is clearly a move signaling that the Eagles intend to be serious contenders in 1937.

The final trade involving New York today was the Gotham's sending struggling young (but highly thought of SP) Curly Jones (25) who was 4-6 with a 4.90 ERA to the CA leading Brooklyn Kings for the King's 2nd round draft pick, 1B Chuck Johnson (21) and SP Mule Earl (23). Johnson is the #171 prospect in the baseball rankings as of the trade. The Jones story in New York got off to a shaky start when he was drafted 1st overall in the 1932 draft. He signed his contract, collected his bonus and then abruptly retired for a few days. Speculation is that someone got a hold of him (maybe Rufus Barrell) and shook some sense into the kid and he came back to the Gotham's. Were the bridges already set afire at that point? Only the Gotham's GM can answer that for sure. His biggest issue in his 38 game FABL career has been control or a lack of it. He is still considered supremely talented even with the less than stellar 36 season. When he broke spring camp in 1935 he was the #6 prospect in baseball, but playing in the high pressure big city of NYC can get the best of some players. Going cross town to Brooklyn who is in the middle of just missing titles, curses and intense pressure to win it all this season might not make the move easily. Jones is expected to go to AAA this year and work it out in the minors and not be thrust into the King's pressure cooker.

The final trade before the All-Star break saw the Pittsburgh Miners attempt to strengthen their starting rotation depth with the acquisition of the Boston Minutemen SP Charlie Stedman. The Miners who were rumored to really want Rabbit Day but were stunned by the quickness of that deal settled on a runner up prize in Stedman. While not the "ace" that Day is, Stedman is a very good solid rotation piece that might take some of the pressure off rookie Lefty Allen. Going to Boston who has had about as much bad luck as any team in recent memory, will be a 3rd round pick (via Brooklyn) and SP Mike Lee 20 (Prospect #107) and SS Lew McClendon 19 (Prospect #66).

After the All-Star game there will be roughly 3 weeks left before the trade deadline. A lot of big names have already moved, but could there be more? Top contenders Cleveland and Philadelphia in the CA and St. Louis in the FA have yet to make a move. Will the pressure mount to strike now and try and keep up with the deals continue? Will New York continue to sell of pieces of a World Champion just a half season after winning it all? And what about the Detroit Dynamo's will they get in on this? Stay tuned.......

The Detroit World
Monday July 6th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

All-Star Ballot

Last week I turned in my All-Star ballot and while I do not expect any Dynamo's to be named this year, we hope that will change very soon in the coming years. For the most part the picks were pretty straight forward although there were a few surprises. First the FA with my vote in BOLD

CATCHER
1. George Cleaves, Pittsburgh Miners 8
2. Tom Bird, Chicago Chiefs 1
3. Jack Flint, St. Louis Pioneers 1

FIRST BASE:
1. Harry Shumate, Washington Eagles: 4
2. Rankin Kellogg, Philadelphia Keystones: 2
3. Fred McCormick, St. Louis Pioneers: 2

SECOND BASE
1. Freddie Jones, St. Louis Pioneers: 10

THIRD BASE
1. Bob Martin, Chicago Chiefs: 6
2. Ed Stewart, Pittsburgh Miners: 3

1. Jim Beard, Washington Eagles 4
2. Erv Smith, New York Gothams: 3
3. Earl Michael, St. Louis Pioneers: 2

LEFT FIELD
1. Moxie Pidgeon, New York Gothams: 6
2. Joe Owens, Pittsburgh Miners: 3
3. Jim Hampton, Chicago Chiefs: 1

CENTER FIELD:value_bold#0>
1. Chick Donnelly, Boston Minutemen: 6
2. Wally Flowers, Washington Eagles: 4

RIGHT FIELD
1. Bobby Barrell, Philadelphia Keystones: 7
2. Mahlon Strong, New York Gothams: 2
3. Pete Day, Boston Minutemen: 1

STARTING PITCHER
1. Rabbit Day, New York Gothams: 9
2. Al Miller, Chicago Chiefs: 7
3. David Abalo, St. Louis Pioneers: 6
4. Lefty Allen, Pittsburgh Miners: 3
5. Bill Anderson, Washington Eagles: 2

RELIEVER
1. Don Attaway, Philadelphia Keystones: 5
2. Earl Farrar, Philadelphia Keystones: 2
3. Gary Harris, New York Gothams: 2
4. Dutch Sheldon, St. Louis Pioneers: 2
5. Chick Stout, Pittsburgh Miners: 2

FA Summary - 3 spots were absolute locks with C George Cleaves, 2B Freddie Jones and RF Bobby Barrell. Honestly I think it is criminal that Barrell didn't join Jones as an unanimous choice. We have a changing of the guard this year at 1B as perennial choice Rankin Kellogg hasn't had his usual MVP type season and that allowed unheralded Washington 1B Harry Shumate to sneak in and steal the honors. Shumate has had a very impressive season and even got my vote. The only position I think really should have gone the other way was at 3B where veteran Bob Martin edged out Pittsburgh's Ed Stewart. Stewart has powered the top scoring offense in the FA and in my opinion his numbers are better this season than Martin who is having a fine season in his own right.

The CA Voting went as follows

CATCHER
1. T.R. Goins, Cleveland Foresters: 8
2. Fred Barrell, Brooklyn Kings: 1

FIRST BASE
1. Dick Walker, Philadelphia Sailors: 8
2. Max Morris, Cleveland Foresters: 1
3. Frank Vance, Brooklyn Kings: 1

SECOND BASE
1. Red Moore, Montreal Saints: 5
2. Brooks Meeks, Cleveland Foresters: 2
3. Ray Ford, Chicago Cougars: 1
4. Walt Layton, Brooklyn Kings: 1

THIRD BASE
1. John Lawson, Chicago Cougars: 7
2. Charlie Barry, Cleveland Foresters: 3

SHORTSTOP
1. Harry Barrel, Brooklyn Kings: 9
2. George Dawson, Cleveland Foresters: 1

LEFT FIELD
1. Lou Williams, Philadelphia Sailors: 9

CENTER FIELD
1. Dan Fowler, Cleveland Foresters: 9

RIGHT FIELD:value_bold#0>
1. Al Wheeler, Brooklyn Kings: 8
2. Fred Quinn, Cleveland Foresters: 1

STARTING PITCHER
1. Tom Barrell, Brooklyn Kings: 10
2. Dean Astle, Cleveland Foresters: 9
3. Lyman Weigel, Cleveland Foresters: 6
4. William Jones, Philadelphia Sailors: 2
5. Chuck Cole, Toronto Wolves: 1
6. Dick Luedtke, New York Stars: 1
7. Mike Murphy, Brooklyn Kings: 1

RELIEVER
1. Bert Henggeler, Brooklyn Kings: 4
2. Phil English, Toronto Wolves: 3
3. Sergio Gonzales, Cleveland Foresters: 3
4. Walt Wells, Philadelphia Sailors: 2
5.
CA Summary - The CA voting is for the most part much easier than the FA. The CA really has several players that are head and shoulders over the rest of the field in at least reputation. The biggest surprise in the CA is the story of Cleveland SP Lyman Weigel who honestly has never amounted to very much in his career. He has been DFA at least 3 times in his career but at age 32 he has finally maybe figured it out. He is 9-2 with a 2.34 ERA on the season.

The All-Star game should be a very good game with these rosters and we will see if the CA can finally break through or if the FA will continue its dominance and win its 4th straight.

DD Martin · 04-23-2021, 06:26 PM

July 1936 1st week

So the calendar flips the page and we start to the 2nd half of the season. With the All-Star game coming up on Tuesday, that will be the start of the 2nd half of the season in most people minds as a clean break. The Dynamo's actually seemed to like turning into July as we started off the month with a nice 4-2 week (5-3 counting the last 2 games in June). We sit at 29-51 overall and are in last place by 5 games ahead of the Keystones (33-45). Right now we are on pace to win 56 games which means we have moved ahead of the pace to avoid 100 losses. Hopefully we can keep it up.

July 1-5th results

7/1: Detroit Dynamos @ St. Louis Pioneers - Win, 6-1.
Dynamos Upend Pioneers, 6-1
W: B. Watkins (3-3) L: D. Lee (1-11) .
HR - None

7/2: Detroit Dynamos @ St. Louis Pioneers - Loss, 10-11.
Dynamos Lose to Pioneers in Walk Off
W: B. Curtin (5-2) L: J. Briel (1-4) .
HR - DET: J. Kyle (1)

7/3: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Win, 9-7.
Dynamos Top Chiefs in Extras, 9-7
W: R. Lee (2-3) L: L. Brown (3-7) .
HR - DET: H. Jones (8) CHI: P. Layton (8)

7/4: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Loss, 2-4.
Dynamos Handed 4-2 Loss by Chicago
W: C. Bingham (9-6) L: R. Benson (0-5) .
HR - CHI: P. Layton (9)

7/4: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Win, 6-3.
Dynamos Win at Chicago, 6-3
W: C. Calvert (5-9) L: J. Beach (9-6) .
HR - None

7/5: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Win, 8-7.
Dynamos Edge Past Chiefs, 8-7
W: J. Spencer (4-3) L: L. Brown (3-8) .
HR - CHI: B. Martin (5), C. Moss (11)

Top Performers
C. Calvert : 2 Wins, 18.0 IP, 2 BB, 1 K, 1.50 ERA
C. Raymond : 16 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .563 AVG, 1.250 OPS
H. Jones : 31 AB, 7 H, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .226 AVG, .749 OPS

It was nice to see SP Chuck Calvert bounce back after a rough June with 2 wins this week. Calvert who has been a RP most of his career was thrust into the #1 SP role this year and has gone 5-9 with a 5.00 ERA. Not great numbers and not what you want from a #1 SP, but considering where we were last season, it is sadly an improvement. We also will be welcoming back SP Chuck Murphy who was 5-1 before his injury in June after the All-Star Break to hopefully boost the rotation a bit. With Calvert, Murphy and the resurgent Carl Bragg, we can at least not be completely embarrassed about the folks we are throwing out there.

Offensively it is nice to see 3B Chief Raymond who has seen his playing time decrease again with the return of Joe Master at least continuing to hit. He took over the starting job last year and had a nice season of hitting 309/372/803 and drove in 56 RBI's. This year he is hitting 317/372/803 with 35 RBI's in about half the at-bats he received last season. He isn't a bad player with the bat, but we do like a little more power at that position. Raymond though just goes about his business despite the interruptions in playing time and continues to hit right around 310. He could be an excellent bench bat on a contending team but we will keep him around and for the most part let him play several times a week.

Next - The All-Star Game and A new Record was achieved recently

DD Martin · 04-23-2021, 06:32 PM

The 1936 All-Star Game

Continental Association Defeats Federal Association 6-4 in Tight All-Star Game.

Dick Walker shined brightly tonight against the best talent that the FABL has to offer. The all-star was named MVP for the annual mid-season showcase held at Pioneer Field II, as his Continental Association All-Stars downed the Federal Association All-Stars by a count of 6-4.

"It's humbling to even play in a game like this with legends of the sport all around you," he said. Walker went 2 for 2 to capture the honor.

With the victory the Continental Association All-Stars got their first win in the now 4 year old competition. An overflow crowd of 47,590 fans crammed into St. Louis' Pioneer Field to watch the game.

DD Martin · 04-23-2021, 06:51 PM

The Detroit World
Monday July 9th, 1936
Sports News
From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat

Former Detroit Skipper's Record Passed

Sometimes news travels slow in this era and record-keeping is still an art that is forming. That said Detroit's former manager and now minority owner George Theobald is no longer the all-time wins holder in FABL history. Baltimore Cannons manager Ossie "Oysters" Julious overtook Theobald on a cold night in Toronto when his Cannons won a rare game 8-4.

The news of this record didn't really spread around the league much, but it was Theobald himself that let me know about it. Theobald who is extremely proud of his accomplishments called Julious and congratulated him on the record. Julious has been managing now for 31 seasons and with the Baltimore franchise struggling the last few years some wondered if he would even get a chance to break the record.

For his career Theobald was 2237-1955 for a career winning percentage of .534. Julious now stands at 2246-2385 for a 485 winning percentage. Now Julious has managed the most games in FABL history and hold the records for most wins and losses in a managerial career. At 63 years of age there is a question of how much longer Julious will manage and with Baltimore in a long term rebuild the question is how much more losing he can tolerate.

There are really no current managers who are a serious threat to the record. The active manager that is highest on the list at #9 is New York Stars manager Bill Craigen who is in his 17 season as the Stars manager. With Craigen being 56 years old currently, it is unlikely that he will manage for the 13-15 years it is estimated he would need to break the mark set by Oysters. The manager who might someday have the best shot at breaking it is Cleveland Forester's manager Jim Wilson who is only 33 and just in his 4th season. The Forester's have been a major force in the FABL in the last 4 years and Wilson has a career record of 332-203 (.621). He is young enough and if he stays in the game long enough, he stands an excellent chance of someday having the most career wins. But he is a long long way off from that.

DD Martin · 05-03-2021, 03:55 PM

Detroit Dynamo's Minor League Prospect Update July 1936

Well the bag is definitely mixed on the Dynamo top prospects but it is only half a season so far. The bad is definitely the injuries to SP Ray McCarthy (22) who never got a chance to get going this year suffering an injury in his first outing of the season. Obviously fans and management were very concerned about the teams #3 prospect (#24 overall) but he is slated to make a full recovery and be in the mix for the big league club rotation in 1937.

The #4 prospect (#43 overall) SP Earle Robinson went down in late May taking a line drive off his elbow. Robinson, just 20 was 6-0 in 7 starts between A and AA with an ERA in the low 2's. He will be ready for spring training and while he could be a rotation candidate the money is that he will be in AA or AAA getting some more minor league innings.

The teams #1 prospect (#8 overall) 1B Red Johnson got off to a fantastic start in April hitting 5 home runs and tearing apart the rookie league. Since that time he cooled off and found the pitching at class B a little more challenging. We have to remember he is still only 18 (his 19th birthday is after the season is over). He has hit 8 home runs so far on the year but his bat has cooled to 262 on the season. While we wish he was dominating class B like he did C ball, his star is still very bright and we will let him develop in his own time frame.

3B Hank Koblenz (19) had a very challenging time at Class C Biloxi. He never got really going until his last week there when he hit just under 300 for the week. He ended up only hitting 185 while in Biloxi with 4 home runs. He has faired better overall hitting 262 in his brief time up with Class B Chattanooga paired with a hitting coach that is more known for working better with power hitters. The 2nd half of the season will tell the story but Koblenz is still our #2 prospect but he did slip out of the top 10 to #12.

The kid that is on a meteoric rise is SS Frank Davis (19). He has risen up the ranks quickly and is now in the top 50 overall checking in a #47. The #5 system prospect hit well over 300 at Class A (374) and has moved up to AA Akron where he is hitting a very respectable 276. While not a power hitter at all, he has driven in 52 RBI's on the year and looks like a real solid candidate to be the future Dynamo SS. (Note - He has since moved on to AAA). Davis came over in the deal with Pittsburgh last season that send veteran (aging) SP Ray Calfee to the Miners with Davis and a 4th round pick (SP Floyd Frost) coming to Detroit.

Detroit's #6 prospect is SP Jack Wood (23) who is the #66 overall prospect and the oldest of the top bunch. He was drafted by Brooklyn out of college in the 1935 draft and after the trade he was placed at AAA ball. Probably too early for that last year and he struggled some with a 5.00 ERA. This season he is pitching much better at Newark and is 4-4 with an ERA around 4. If he continues he will likely get a late season callup to the big leagues to just get a taste of it. He is likely to be in the starting 5 next year for Detroit unless he struggles badly in spring training.

Our #7 and #8 prospects will fall off this list because of service time (1B Bill Moore #71 overall prospect) and a combo of service time and age for #95 prospect CF Pete Thomas. Moore has been with the big league team for most of the season has a 317/413/904 batting line. Thomas came over in a trade with the NY Gothams and is right now hitting 343 in AAA Akron. He will likely be up with the big league club sooner rather than later, although minor league options might play a role in the big league club makeup.

#9 Prospect (overall #97) SS Tip Harrison (24) has been playing along side what some hope is Detroit's future double play partner 2B Homer Ray (23 - #11 and #119 overall). Harrison is hitting 275 with Newark while Ray is hitting 316. While Frank Davis's rise through the system has some people looking past Harrison, many still feel that he will be a big factor in a rebuilt Detroit club as soon as next season. Ray is making his mark and will likely be in the running for the Dynamo's 2B job in spring training.

#10 Prospect CF Ollie Williams (22) was drafted in the 2nd round last year and has been at Class B all season. It hasn't come easy for the game's #107 prospect as he is hitting 245/350/716 so far this season. There is some thinking to move him up and match him up better with a hitting coach that is more aligned with his approach, but so far that hasn't happened. With Williams in the fold at CF, the thinking is that the team doesn't need draft prospect CF Sal Pestilli and that they might go another way if they land the #1 pick next year's draft.

Overall the team has 31 prospects in the top 357 with 18 in the top 200. While the struggles on the field continue and they big league club still needs help just about everywhere, they are building a solid farm system in a relatively short amount of time.

Below are the standings, hitting and pitching numbers for the Dynamo's through the All-Star Break.

DD Martin · 05-03-2021, 04:18 PM

Detroit Dynamo's July 1936 Report

July Record 11-17
Overall Record 36-66

July got off to a solid start early but the team faded down the closing of the month. The team appears headed to their 2nd straight last place finish in the FA and team owner Eddie Thompson is currently very upset although he was angry before the All-Star Break. OF Irv Brady who was picked up at the beginning of the month, has been a solid hitter and brought some more stability and leadership to the club.

July's top hitters
1B Bill Moore 362/463/971 10 RBI's with 10 doubles
OF Ray Cochran 355/383/949 3-16
SS Slim Bloom 333/370/790 0-4 8R

Producing runs is still a large problem for this team. While their production in July is better than their early season numbers, the 4.07 rpg (114 runs scored) is still not going to cut it in the FA where most teams are scoring 5+ a game (league average is 5.4). The issue of scoring enough runs is quickly becoming this organizations top priority.

July's top Pitchers
RP Ray Benson 4G 0-1 3.00 15 IP

While run production has been a season long problem, the pitching in the first half of the year was noticeably better. That stopped in July when signs of the 35 pitching staff reared its ugly head. The team ERA in July was 6.33 which was worse than the numbers seen last year (barely). There really is much positive to say about it right now. We hope that it is just a horrible month and not a sign for things to come.

The team's run differential for July was -66 scoring 114 runs and giving up 180. So looking that it could have been a worse month for the team.

July's Pitching and Hitting numbers below

04-05-2021, 07:27 PM	#42
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Spring Training Ends......Thankfully The Dynamo's walked off the field after their final spring training game (a 3-1 loss to Washington) left them and the Eagles tied for the worst spring records in baseball at 6-18. For the Eagles they are in much better shape and their spring results are somewhat surprisingly. Unfortunately for Detroit the spring record indicates that there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done. Roster turnover is likely to be very high and the front office will be looking for every little crumb other organizations will be casting away. Below are the spring training stats for the Dynamo's. The Detroit World Saturday April 11th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Dynamo's trade minor league Brown for Hank Spencer from Chicago In a continuing effort to find anyone with an arm that can throw a baseball over the plate, the Dynamo's traded Joe Brown who went 10-7 with an ERA over 4.50 at Class C to the Cougars for former prospect Hank Spencer (26). Spencer was once considered the #38 prospect in the FABL but his career hasn't quite lived up to that expectation. His career record is just 3-6 with a 5.61 ERA (all last season). Detroit is hoping that he can find his pitching mojo and become something of an improvement over other pitchers returning from last season. The Detroit World Sunday April 12th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Dynamo's swing a deal with Cleveland for 4 players In the trend of picking through the bones the Dynamo's and their GM's former team the Cleveland Foresters completed a trade. The Dynamo's will send just a 10th round pick to Cleveland and in return will pick up 4 players the Forester's deemed didn't fit on their roster. The players include SP Carl Bragg, 1B/OF Ray Cochran, 2B/U Juan Sarmiento and SS Pat Schuring. All 4 players who are out of options look destined for Detroit's opening day roster. One would ask why would Detroit send a low draft for 4 guys who were going on the waiver wire and they could have picked up there? With Cleveland in the CA and Detroit in the FA that meant that all CA teams would have priority over Detroit in the waiver wire claims. So the Dynamo's decided they would send the pick to give Cleveland (who was hoping some would fall back to them and they might have) something for losing organizational depth. Right now the "prize" appears to be SP Carl Bragg who 23-18 record and a 4.21 ERA in parts of 4 major league seasons with the Forester's. Bragg was likely the one player that Detroit coveted most even though he spent all of last season in AAA at Cincinnati going 9-4. In our estimate Bragg will slot #3 in a still very porous Dynamo rotation. SS Pat Schuring is a light hitting but steady defensive SS who will likely be in the opening day lineup. The Detroit World Sunday April 12th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Dynamo's nab once great 3B Joe Masters in a minor deal Detroit has become the home for reclamation projects as they sent an 11th round draft pick to the Chicago Cougars for 3B Joe Masters. Master until last season was considered the best power hitting 3B in FABL history, but it appears age has caught up with him. Last season Master hit just 224 with 10 home runs and 54 RBI's. He will get a chance to add to his career totals and maybe sell a few season tickets in Detroit while the Dynamo's wait for the arrival of 3B Hank Koblenz (expected maybe sometime in 1938 or 1939). Next - The Opening Day Roster is Announced (Did Detroit find 23 players worthy of being on the big league team?) Attached Images

04-06-2021, 01:05 PM	#44
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Monday April 13th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Let's Meet the 1936 Dynamo's A lot of changes have been made to this team, will it help on the field who knows. But let's meet the Opening Day Detroit Dynamo's for what it is worth. Pitching SP Chuck Calvert (32 - RHP) Last Season 2-3 1 save 3.12 ERA in Detroit in 21 relief appearances. Just to show how desperate the pitching situation in Detroit is, career RP Calvert will make just his 3rd start since 1929 when he started 15 games for the Gothams. He is the opening day starter against his old team New York and one of their aces Rabbit Day. Good luck Chuckie! SP Jim Crawford (30 - LHP) Never has a 2-6 5.43 SP looked so good, but in Detroit that is what a #2 SP looks like. Crawford will need to cut down on the baserunners he allowed last year 106 hits and 22 walks in 69.2 innings to have a shot a being effective. #2 SP in the rotation SP Carl Bragg (27 - RHP) Just acquired from GM Martin's old team in Cleveland, Bragg has a 23-19 big league won/loss record and a decent 4.23 career ERA. The question is with Bragg despite the moderate success when given a chance as a SP, is he really a SP or a RP? #3 SP in the rotation SP Hank Spencer (26 - LHP) Acquired in spring training from the Chicago Chiefs where he was 3-6 5.61 in 1935. Spencer will get the opportunity he has long desired, a chance to start in the big leagues. He has a deep arsenal but he really needs to work on his control to be successful. #4 SP in the rotation SP Ben Watkins (26 - RHP)Will likely share the #5 spot in the rotation to start the season with fellow Rule 5 pitcher Ray Lee. He is making the jump from Class A where he was 11-8 until an arm injury derailed him in the Baltimore organization. He will likely be watched closely this season as he returns from injury. SP Ray Lee (23 - RHP) Lee was also a rule 5 pick up in the off-season and will share the #5 spot with Watkins in the first month or two. He was in AA ball last year and had a 2-5 record with a 4.05 ERA. He is primarily considered a RP by many but will get a few starts to see how it goes. Bullpen ST Jim Simmons (28 - RHP) With Calvert in the rotation Simmons takes over the "stopper" role and for some reason he is highly rated by BNN as the #5 and #2 "closer" in league reports. Unfortunately the results in the big leagues really have never been on his side as evidenced by last years 1-2 8.20 ERA in Detroit (he was 2-3 with a 7.29 ERA in Chicago with the Chiefs. Once considered a top 100 prospect, but not anymore. RP George Coleman (28 - RHP) Came over as another Rule 5 player from Cleveland. He was 9-7 with AAA Cincinnati in 1935 with a 4.73 ERA. He will be the likely #2 arm out of the bullpen and may be given a shot at starting at some point. RP Ray Benson (29 - LHP) Rounding out the bullpen is left hander Ray Benson who was picked up on waivers from St. Louis during the off-season. He was 2-2 with a 6.46 ERA with the big league team in 35 but showed some promise in the hitter happy GWL (AAA) with a 7-3 4.91 effort. Summary - The pitching could be argued is improved over last season, maybe. Time will tell but this team should still be looking for a lot of arms for the future as not many of these guys really look to be a part of the long term plan. Position Players Bold denotes starter C Red Jackson (30 - RH) Acquired from New York for an 8th round pick. He takes over the starting catcher duties. He is projected to hit around 270 and is likely a league average receiver. C Les Dunbar (32 - RH) Was a waiver claim (familiar theme in Detroit) after having fallen out of favor in St. Louis. He is a career 284 hitter in the big leagues and will be given an opportunity to stick as the backup here surprisingly over last year's 2nd half starting C Jim Kyle who is in Newark (mainly because he had an option). 1B Ray Cochran (30 - RH) Acquired in a late spring trade with Cleveland (he and 4 others were DFA assignment and packaged for a 10 round pick). Cochran is a 270 hitter in limited chances (playing behind Max Morris in Cleveland) to show what he can do. He will get an opportunity here because management decided prospect Bill Moore wasn't ready after a rough spring. 2B/1B Claude Merrill (27 - RH) Merrill showed power hitting 45 pro home runs between AA-AAA and the majors. 15 of the homers where with the Dynamo's and the team has tried him in LF, 3B and 1B besides his "natural" 2B position. He is in the lineup for his pop so hopefully he finds it as his bat disappeared during spring training. SS Pat Schuring (28 - RH) Blocked in Cleveland by George Dawson, Schuring was DFA but added to the care package from Cleveland trade. He will get a shot to immediately start in Detroit as a solid defensive SS with limited offensive talent (career 255 hitter) but did hit 409 last season (we won't say how many at-bats he got...22) 3B Joe Masters (36 - LH) Long time Chicago Chief terrorized the FA for many years and has hit 264 career home runs. Not sure what he has left in the tank but he will get the shot to be the everyday 3B here in Detroit and chase career home run #300 (not bloody likely) 2B Lynn Gray (28 - RH) and 2B Juan Sarmiento (22 - LH) Both are team captains and can play multiple positions. Gray was a waiver claim last season with Detroit and Sarmiento came in the Cleveland package on the eve of Opening Day. One is right handed, one is left, one is 28 and one is 22. Other than those differences they are pretty similar. 3B/1B Chief Raymond (29 - RH) Raymond hit 309 last season with 8 home runs and 56 RBI's after taking over for the departed Frank Vance. He was looking likely to be the starting 3B until the acquisition of Joe Masters. Still he is likely to see considerable playing time if Masters doesn't cut it. SS/U Slim Bloom (30 - RH) SS hit 247 last season but lost the starting job when Pat Schuring was acquired. Was likely only holding onto it until minor league prospect Tip Harrison or Frank Davis was deemed ready. Neither are so here he is. LF Henry Jones (31 - LH) The Dynamo's tried everything they could to trade Jones last year and it had an impact on his performance. His batting average went down (308 in 34 to 276 last season) and his power numbers fell as well (24-124 in 34 to 14 and 72 in 35). While the team hopes for a rebound, he is likely still on the trading block. There is just nobody really ready in the organization to take his spot. CF Jose Serna (23 - RH) Rookie hit 316 in 225 PA's last year with the Dynamo's after coming over in the block buster Brooklyn deal. He didn't really flash his speed much (nor did anyone else) and one has to figure that will play a bigger role in his game this season. RF Howard Moss (30 - RH) After being acquired at the deadline last season Moss hit 294/382/936 with 11 home runs and 52 RBI's in 54 starts. If he can come close to that production this season in a full slate of games the Dynamo's will have at least 1 hitter to put some fear in the opposing pitchers. OF Joe Goodwin (24 - RH) The Rule 5 OF who has the nickname the "Demon of Demopolis" is an interesting prospect. He has some pop but he also likes to take his hacks. Summary of the position players - Last year's offense was the worst in the FA and right now it doesn't look like it is going to be much better. The team needs a rebound from LF Henry Jones. 2B Claude Merrill to hit like he did at least power wise last season, and for RF Howard Moss to be the player he was after coming over from Chicago. If 3B Joe Masters has anything left in the tank that would be a plus. The team has to be looking forward to the arrival of 1B Red Johnson and 3B Hank Koblenz, but that is a few seasons away. Overall Summary - While I expect the team to win more than 43 games, the question is how many more. Should have a chance to win 50 and if everything comes together avoid losing 100+. The pitching will have to show better than last seasons abysmal effort though. Its going to be a long season in Detroit but the real question is who will they select at #1 next draft or will they trade the pick? Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 04-06-2021 at 01:07 PM.

04-07-2021, 11:58 AM	#46
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Start of a Very Long Season of AA Baseball in Detroit A crowd of 14,660 came to see the Dynamo's in their season opener against the defending World Series Champion New York Gothams. Somehow we had suckered a 20.5% increase (+646) in season ticket sold. Guess what they say is true, there is a sucker born every day and in Detroit maybe it was 2 every day. Game 1 - New York Gothams 1 vs Detroit Dynamos 0 Chuck Calvert pitched a 5-hitter for Detroit and deserved a much better fate. The problem was NY SP Rabbit Day tossed a 3-hitter and the Gotham's managed a run in the top of the 5th. Game 2 - New York Gothams 9 vs Detroit Dynamos 1 The good news is Detroit scored it first run of the season in the first inning. The problem here was that they were already down 3-0 before that run scored. Gotham's wasted little time toying with the Dynamo's in this one. Game 3 - New York Gothams 7 vs Detroit Dynamos 0 The game was much closer than it appears as Hardin Bates outdueled Jim Crawford through 8 innings 2-0. Tom Bray decided to put our stopper into the game probably to get him some work and boy does he need it. The #2 or #5 RP in FABL (depending on what you look at...oy vey) was rocked for 5 runs in just 2/3 of an inning. Of course we are ignoring the part where we were shut out for the 2nd time in 3 games and have managed just 1 run in 27 innings....at home even! Summary - And I guess that is why our Detroit report Freddie Farhat picks the Gotham's to once again win the Fed. Pitching, pitching, pitching. Of course it didn't help that our hitters look like a little league team so far. It has to be better, I hope. We move onto St. Louis as we open the season against New York, St. Louis and Chicago which are considered the top 3 teams in the Fed this year. At least St. Louis pitching isn't as good as New York's. Game 4 - Detroit Dynamos 3 @ St Louis Pioneers 4 Look at that offense, 3 runs and we actually had the lead going into the bottom of the 9th. Looks like Manager Tom Bray had no faith in anyone in our bullpen (even Jim Simmons and his 67.00 ERA) and SP Hank Spencer wore out in the ninth. The Pioneers scored 2 in the inning capped off by 1B Frank McCormick's walk off single. Wish we had a Frank McCormick on our team. Game 5 - Detroit Dynamos 7 @ St. Louis Pioneers 9 Detroit scored more runs in this one than they did in the first 4 games of the season. Unfortunately a couple of errors, 6 walks by our SP and 4 unearned runs out of 9 will get you a loss in this league on most days. St. Louis SP Sam Sheppard got the win, but he did not look like last years Allen Award winner in the Fed as he gave up 12 hits and 6 earned runs. Ray Cochran hit Detroit's first home run of the season. Game 6 - Detroit Dynamos 1 @ St. Louis Pioneers 7 SP Chuck Calvert obviously disappointed in the lack of run support in his first start decided to make sure this one was over early. Of course our 3 errors didn't help. It was 4-1 after 2 innings and everyone knew that with the way our offense was going the game was over. Summary - At least we scored 11 runs in this 3 game set as opposed to the 1 run against the Gothams. Scoring 2 RPG will not get you many wins and because of our offense we start the year 0-6. Counting last season that is a 17-game losing streak, but fortunately we do not try and think about last season. We are last or close to last in every offensive category but somehow we have 12 extra base hits. We have done little with those extra base hits so far though and only 1 was a home run. The pitching (Team ERA of 4.73) is much better to start the year than last season's effort of x.xx. The starters are actually giving us a chance with a 4.06 ERA (5th in the league!). Unfortunately we did have a locker room incident..... The Detroit World Monday April 20th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Dynamo's Pitching Coach FIRED! After Ugly Locker Room Incident The stress of losing was apparently too much as pitching coach John Armstrong was fired Sunday. After another loss to start the season 0-6, Armstrong and manager Tom Bray nearly came to blows with each other. It appeared Armstrong was upset by the complete lack of run support given by the team and it just escalated from there. Team GM DD Martin chimed in after the dust settled "There is no place in a professional baseball locker room for that type of outburst. Jack Armstrong has been dismissed for his actions. AAA pitching coach Bill George will take over and was signed to a 2-year extension just yesterday. George will join the team in Chicago tomorrow." There have been rumors that Martin has been looking at manager Bray's entire coaching staff. The crew put together before he arrived when poor Tom Bray was wearing so many hats is not exactly the caliber of coaching staff one would expect. I wouldn't be shocked if more changes are coming, especially if the hitters don't start hitting. Minor League Report The minor league baseball season starts in a few days and there is some excitement in Detroit to see how some of the youngsters the team added in the off-season far at their various locations. Of course most eyes will be on the Class C (rookie league) Biloxi Billies as 1B Red Johnson and 3B Hank Koblenz begin their professional careers. Many eyes will also be on AAA Newark as SP Ray McCarthy will pitch in the opening day game in Syracuse against the Excelsiors. Also a pair of retired former players make their coaching debuts as former C Dick York (manager) will be joined by former SP Max Wilder (pitching coach) at Class A Terre Haute. Former SP John Booker also makes his debut as a pitching coach at Class C Biloxi. Look for expanded coverage of the minor league system this year as it will probably be more interesting than what is going on at the major league level in Detroit. League Team Power Rankings - I don't normally pay much attention to this but since I have never seen a negative power ranking I figured I'd share it. Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 04-07-2021 at 01:59 PM.

04-08-2021, 01:02 PM	#48
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Week 3 part 1 - The end of April 1936 Before the week started we had 4 games for the rest of April, 1 left vs St. Louis who is 5-0 against us and 3-5 against the rest of the Fed. Then we head to Philadelphia to play the Keystones (5-8) for 3 games. It was a busy week as far as roster moves since we had DFA a lot of guys. Of course nobody else in the league thought our castoffs were worth anything either so they all came crawling back with their bats and gloves. Several players were not so lucky, C Dave Armstrong (33) had not been a favorite of mine since we arrived so he was cut loose. Also cut loose were P Fred Smith (28 - AAA), P Ernie Miller (33 - AA), RF Jack Siciliano (33 - AAA), 2B Steve Stewart (30 - AA), SS George Drake (29 - AAA), and 2B Skipper Williams (25 - AA). With reluctance we shipped back to Cleveland rule 5 draft pick P George Coleman (0-0 6.00 ERA in 2 relief appearances). Why all the releases, well we decided to keep a majority of the guys we DFA. P's Don Grossman, Duke Brown were assigned to AAA Newark along with SS John McKinley, and OF Mickey Tompkins. P's Phil Hicks and Taylor Collins were sent to AA Akron and P Al Allen was banished to class C Biloxi. Some of these moves were also necessitated by our frequent use of the waiver wire trying to bring in talent to the organization. We went to a 10-man pitching staff with waiver claims P Eddie Bloom (from Cleveland) and Jim Hawkins (from Boston) joining the staff. That meant that one of the position players would have to be sent off. The lucky or unlucky soul, depending on how you look at it was 1B/2B Claude Merrill who was hitting just 209/261/587 with 1 home run and 5 RBI's in the first 13 games. He will go down and work out primarily as a 3B to see if he can again find his hitting stroke and have any shot at coming back up to play 3B. We have more waiver guys waiting their turn to get a shot as P Jim Spencer and CF Jack Burke were added to the 40-man roster but were not assigned any spots yet. We also made another waiver claim for P Chuck Murphy who was being DFA by the Chicago Chiefs. That claim won't be finished until the end of the week. So much for all the moves, here are the games that were played between April 27th and April 30th 1936. Game 14 - St. Louis Pioneers (8-5) 13 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-12) 4 Right now the Pioneers are wishing they could play 100 games versus the Dyanmos instead of only 22 a season. With the blasting today, they move to 6-0 against the Detroit 9. Unfortunately for St. Louis's playoff hopes they will not meet the Dynamo's again until the end of May. Game 15 - Detroit Dynamos (1-13) 7 @ Philadelphia Keystones (5-8) 0 Last year it took Detroit until the last couple of weeks of the season to shut out an opponent, so doing it in April is a huge accomplishment (again looking for positives here). The offense banged out 15 hits (season high) and 7 runs and was led by leadoff CF Jose Srna 3-5 2R 3RBI, with a double and triple. The real hero was SP Hank Spencer who gave up just 6 hits in going the distance. Game 16 - Detroit Dynamos (2-13) 3 @ Philadelphia Keystones (5-9) 4 (11 innings) So close to a winning streak, the Dynamos could almost taste it. SP Chuck Calvert is still looking for his first win of the season (0-3) despite a fine 2.73 ERA in 4 starts. All-FABL RP Jim Simmons took the loss in extra innings but he has managed to lower his ERA to 12.38. Game 17 - Detroit Dynamos (2-14) 3 @ Philadelphia Keystones (6-9) 2 Well the winning steak was out the window but the first season series win could be had. SP Jim Crawford pitched a 7-hit, 2-run effort in keeping the Keys at bay long enough for as Detroit made its 3-0 lead in the 2nd hold up for the win. Manager Tom Bray was seen celebrating in the dugout, white hair and all as he must have felt like his team just won the World Series. Summary - So we end up the opening month of the season having played 17 straight games and going 3-14. We won the last 2 out of 3 so maybe better things are ahead like playing 350 baseball the rest of the year. Player Awards of the Month of April CA Rookie of the Month goes to Chicago Cougar CF Roy Moore who hit 354 with a home run, 9 RBI's and 8 runs scored. CA Hitter of the Month goes to former Detroit Dynamo OF Al "The Wonder Wheel" Wheeler who blistered the CA for a 429 batting average with 5 home runs and 24 RBI's and a whopping 20 runs scored. He is almost doing single handedly as much damage as the entire Detroit offense for the month of April. CA Pitcher of the Month is almost becoming a broken record as the reigning 2-time CA Allen Award winner P Tom Barrell of Brooklyn takes home the honor. For Barrell it is the 6th time he has won the award. In April he went 4-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 43.2 innings as the King's work him hard in the opening weeks of the season. FA Rookie of the Month goes to league leading Chicago Chief youngster SP Al Miller. Miller has looked sharp in his early career going 3-0 with a 2.33 ERA. FA Hitter of the Month goes to Pittsburgh Miners 1B Lou Kelly who hit 426 with a home run, 11 RBI's and 14 runs scored. For the veteran Kelly (34) it was his 8th career player of the month honor. FA Pitcher of the Month goes to the Washington Eagles SP Bill Anderson who seems to be enjoying the change in scenery in the nations capital. the former Toronto Wolves SP went 4-1 in 5 starts with a 3.70 ERA. Detroit Stars of the month While not getting the national attention for anyone, the Dynamos announced that SP Hank Spencer was named their pitcher of the month. Spencer went 2-1 with a 2.13 ERA in 3 starts For the Dynamo hitter of the month there was not a lot to choose from as the team is by far the worst offense in the Fed. In a close vote, CF Jose Serna got the nod by hitting 278/333/736 with 7 RBI's and 6 runs scored. Henry Jones had the better batting average but just didn't generate or produce many runs while hitting 319 Dynamo rookie of the month goes to utility man Juan Sarmiento who hit 353 in just 17 AB's but managed a home run, with 5 runs scored. Attached Images

04-08-2021, 03:48 PM	#49
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Week 3 pt 2 - May 1st-3rd 1936 As we drink a toast to winning our first series of the season we move into May with high hopes, of what I am not sure. We are roughly 225 days away from the amateur draft which we will have the #1 pick. I tell Director of Scouting Fred Davis to not sleep and to scout like his job depends on it. Honestly it does most likely. We move to Boston for the start of a quick 2-game set with the Minutemen who just lost their power hitting 1B Bob Donoghue for the season with a ruptured Achilles. He was hitting 358 with 5 home runs and 16 RBI's in 17 games before the injury. Game 18 - Detroit Dynamos (3-14) 4 @ Boston Minutemen (10-7) 7 No Donoghue for Boston, no problem as the Minutemen had enough offense and enough Dynamo errors to take the first game in the 2-game series. Game 19 - Detroit Dynamos (3-15) 4 @ Boston Minutemen (11-7) 5 Offensively fireworks early as Boston threw up a 5 spot in the 1st and Detroit came back with 4 in the 2nd. Unfortunately for Dynamo fans that was all the scoring in the game. SP Jim Hawkins after a rough first inning was much better in this game, but his ERA is still over 11. Game 20 - Detroit Dynamos (3-16) 3 @ Washington Eagles (10-9) 2 Another 1 run game and this time the Detroit 9 come up with a win and hang onto it. Detroit improves their record to 3-6 in 1-run games and SP Hank Spencer picks up his 3rd win (3-1 2.10 ERA) on the season. Spencer in fact has won 3 of Detroit's 4 wins on the season. Season Record 4-16 Home Record 1-8 Road Record 3-8 Summary - Well overall it was a 3-4 week (our best of the season) and while we are not double digits out of first yet, we are as close as you can get at 9.5 GB. The Fed looks like it is going to be a real interesting and tight race with as many as 6 teams at least hanging around to make it interesting. Detroit will not be one of the 6. This is also a day where we decided to continue in our pursuit of playing the most players during a season in league history. We continued our assault on the waiver wire grabbing more players who mostly are out of options. So that means we find them room to evaluate them. This is a business and right now we are in the business of building a future contending team. Last season was brutal and this year we hope to make some strides but it will likely be very rough as well. Making their debuts in Detroit next week will be the following cast of characters. First we will bring up 1B Bill Moore who didn't earn the 1B job in spring training but has looked very good at AAA Newark hitting 436 with 7 doubles and 9 RBI's. We could use some of that production so he gets his shot. Also joining the team for game 2 in Washington on Monday will be OF Jack Burke (via waivers) who will get some starts in CF and move Jose Serna to one of the corners. I don't know if Burke (27) has a long term role here but he will get a shot to impress. Finally among the position players joining the big league club will be catcher Jim Kyle. With the acquisitions of Red Jackson and Les Dunbar, Kyle was the odd man out in spring training. Jackson has struggled so Kyle will replace him on the roster and share time for now with Les Dunbar. On the pitching side of things we added Jim Spencer, also off waivers and he will slide into the "stopper" role this week while we look at Eddie Bloom in the rotation. Former stopper Jim "Kerosene" Simmons is out of options and hanging onto a big league roster spot by a thread. The only reason Simmons is hanging around is someone in the league office (probably Rufus Barrell) thinks highly of him. Well in Detroit and even Chicago before that Kerosene has started more fires than a weekly arsonist with an ERA last year of 7.63 and this year at 12+. Someone in the league office who rates players should like be fired over this clown being the #3 RP/ST in the FABL. With 4 guys coming up that means that since we have had no injuries on the big league roster that 4 guys will go down. Remember this a business and right now we are in the business of talent evaluation since we aren't currently in the business of winning baseball. The first causality is probably future Hall of Fame 3B Joe Masters who was hitting 200 in 50 AB's. We talked to Joe and let him know that we were giving him a chance to play 1B in Newark and hit everyday to see if he could find his swagger. We will evaluate him in a month and see how he is doing. Another player going down is RF Howard Moss who doesn't even resemble the guy who hit 11 home runs and drove in 50+ in 54 games. Moss was hitting 197 in 20 games so while we expect him back he is going to have to hit to get back up. With a catcher coming up in Jim Kyle that meant that Red Jackson who had an option went down. Hopefully Red will get his batting average back in the black soon. Finally besides Master's demotion the most shocking was probably that of SP Jim Crawford. Crawford was 1-3 with a 4.06 ERA for us so far and with that ERA he is about league average, so why send him down? Again we are evaluating talent and Jim had options. So of all the people we sent down, he probably had the biggest case against such a move. Summary - Next week we have 2 more at Washington before going to for 3 games. Then we finally have an off-day in the schedule, our first of the season. There will likely be another roster move next week as we did "win" a waiver claim for P Chuck Murphy (from the Chicago Chiefs) and we will have to find him a spot to again evaluate him. Likely candidates for losing that spot barring injury will be Kerosene Simmons or Jim Hawkins. My money is on the Fire Starter! Next - The Minor League Report and you guessed it some player movement Last edited by DD Martin; 04-08-2021 at 03:50 PM.

03-31-2021, 06:37 PM	#41
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Spring Training seems to long! When your a bad team and it shows this early in spring training, it makes the spring seem like it is going to take forever. The regular season will probably be like that too. Things are looking pretty dire in Detroit but that wasn't unexpected. We knew this was going to be a long process. Last week during our spring games we went 1-5 to bring our spring record to 3-9. Somehow the Washington Eagles who have a lot more talent on their team are 1-11 and we have beaten them twice so far this spring. Week 2 Spring Training Results Monday - New York Gothams vs Detroit 6-1 Loss Tuesday - Detroit @ St. Louis 10-2 Loss Wednesday - Pittsburgh vs Detroit 9-2 Loss Thursday - Washington vs Detroit 8-6 Win Friday - Detroit at Philadelphia 4-3 (10) Loss Saturday - Detroit at Chicago 3-2 Loss Certainly the 2nd half of the week away from New York, St. Louis and Pittsburgh looked a lot better as far as we won a game and lost one in extras and the other by just a run. The first 3 games of the week we were outscored by a 25-5 count. Dynamo's Sign New Asst GM Not that it really matters (other than I hate the message on my team page that I have a position open), the Dynamo's put some pennies together to give DD Martin an Asst GM. In a strange surprise the new Asst GM is one of Martin's former players in Cleveland who put him on waivers at the start of the 1927 Season. Ben Hathaway never really lived up to some of the early promise he had flashed as a minor league guy. After he was drafted in 1921 he was rated the #26 overall prospect in the game. He ended up with a 295 batting average and collected 535 hits (most of those with the Chicago Cougars who claimed him off the waiver wire). His last year in playing in the big leagues was 1929 and he retired last season after spending 6 years trying to get back to the majors. First Cuts of the Spring The Dynamo's made their first cuts of spring training reducing the roster from the original 46 to now 38 players in camp trying to via for 23 spots. Some say that the team would like to cut about 30 of the players in camp and trying to find about 7 others off the scrap heap that might be upgrades. Players being sent down - 1B Red Johnson 3B Hank Koblenz 2B Homer Ray CF Ollie Williams LF Jay Buckingham SP Jack Stemm SP Fred Hall SS Tip Harrison (injured for 2 weeks) P Marty Devorce Players returning from the injured list SP Ben Watkins None of the names on the cut list were huge surprises as the rookie trio of Johnson, Koblenz and Williams were all here just to get some work in with the big leaguers before going down. SS Tip Harrison going down is simply because he will not be in camp to compete anymore for a job and the most likely plan was for him and 2B Homer Ray to work on their double play combo at AAA Newark. Rotation Update The team continues to rotate pitchers in and out of the starting rotation to get a good look at things. This week's starters in the teams 7 games is below: Ray Benson 0-1 3.60 5IP (@ Boston) Ben Watkins 0-0 0.00 spring debut (@ New York) - pitch count 50 Ray McCarthy 0-0 0.00 3.2IP (vs St. Louis) Jack Wood 0-1 3.12 8.2IP (@ Pittsburgh) Earle Killebrew 0-0 0.00 4IP (@ Washington) Ray Lee 0-1 6.00 6IP (vs Philadelphia) Chuck Calvert 0-1 4.50 8IP (@Chicago) Next week will be a big week, for C Dave Armstrong as he is fighting to save his job. If the season started today it looks like Jim Kyle and Red Jackson would be splitting the catching duties. Its also a big week for 1B Bill Moore in his quest to make the Opening Day lineup. Moore is only hitting 200 so far this spring with no extra base hits so he is going to need to really show something this week to have a shot. The team really wants him to win the job, but if he doesn't he will head back to AAA and try to improve his hitting. SS John McKinley (333 in spring) is trying to wrestle the starting SS job away from Slim Bloom. Meanwhile 2B Paul McCain hasn't gotten too many chances to show that he should be the starting 2B, especially if Moore doesn't win the 1B job. Next - Week 3 and hopefully the team shows signs of a little life

04-05-2021, 10:23 PM	#43
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Monday April 13th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Pre-Season Predictions First off we will go over the Federal Association, and yes we are picking our Dynamo's to finish DEAD LAST, but they should show a little bit of improvement. The FA is going to be very competitive this season but I really like the top 3 teams below. Federal Association - 1.) New York Gothams - Still have the best pitching staff in the FA and winners of last years World Series. Unless they see a major injury to SP Rabbit Day, Jim Lonardo, Harlan Bates or Curly Jones, we see the Gotham's again holding on for the 6th time in 11 seasons. The national publication has the Gotham's falling to 70 wins and 7th place but reports are that the writer was drunk when he was penning that fine prediction. 2.) St Louis Pioneers - Last year they came up just short. This year it looks like it might be another runner up spot for the Pioneers. They have brought young SP Dixie Lee to support Allen Award winner Sam Sheppard. To have a serious shot Sheppard will have to come very close to repeating his 28-7 record from a year ago and they will need Lee to have a very strong rookie season. 3.) Chicago Chiefs - This could be the sleeper team of the year, but they are making bold moves to maybe surprise everyone. On the eve of the season opener the Chiefs made a deal to acquire highly thought of C Tom Bird to Chicago along with fine hitter Frankie Cohen. The Chiefs also brought up their top pitching prospect SP Al Miller in another bold move to try and bring the FA title back home to Chicago. 4.) Pittsburgh Miners - SP Walter Murphy and Bill Ketterman anchor the starting rotation but the Miners are in search of those #3 and #4 starters. One of those spots should be occupied by top prospect Lefty Allen who should be up sooner rather than later. Miners have a very good starting C in George Cleaves but I think they need to make a significant move before veteran 1B Lou Kelly (34) begins to fade. They have a very young OF that they will be relying on. 5.) Boston Minutemen - Another team that just feels like it is a player or two away. They could use another high end SP to join Charlie Stedman and Dick Higgins in the rotation and they would have been a team that really could have benefitted from C Tom Bird. They seem to be missing that one big thumper bat in the middle of their order. 6.) Washington Eagles - The national publication has the Eagles finishing 2nd, but we think that is a year or two too early. The young Eagles have a lot of talent that could be in the majors this season. They are a team to watch, but I don't see them finishing in the upper division at this time. 7.) Philadelphia Keystones - Hard to imagine a team with 1B Rankin Kellogg and RF Bobby Barrell finishing this low, but without some upgrades in their pitching staff, it looks like the Keys could be entering the area where Detroit was in 1934. 8.) Detroit Dynamo's - We will have a full detail report on the Dynamo's but needless to say they are everyone's pick to finish last. Improvement yes, but still last. Continental Association Some are writing off the the Cleveland Forester's because they believe age is catching up and because of the lack luster spring training they had. The CA still appears to be a 2-horse race and the real question is, can Brooklyn shake the ghost of the Ferdinand Hawkins curse? 1.) Cleveland Foresters - The end of the line is coming for 1B Max Morris but he should have enough left in the tank to get past the 700 home run mark (he stands at 691) and will the Clevelander's to another title. But with the early spring injury to C TR Goins, everyone is reminded of the growing concern of age creeping in. 2.) Brooklyn Kings - Hawkins Curse Rule! The Kings have to believe in themselves as they have by far the best pitching in the CA. Yes they have all the Barrell's and Lightbody's one would want, but until they can extinguish the ghost of Hawkins I can't pick them. 3.) Montreal Saints - I think this team is on the verge of truly making this a 3-team race but the trade of SP Bill Anderson might be something they regret this year. They need to find someone to fill that void and in the Bird trade they acquired a young SP in Bill Ross. 1B Vic Crawford is my pick to finally break through and win the CA's Whitney Award. 4.) Chicago Cougars - Best minor league in the FABL from top to bottom. Yes Baltimore has the edge in top pitching prospects, but no one is even close to the amount of young talent the Cougars have. What they need now is to hope that the top end talent in 1B Leo Mitchell, CF Roy Moore and the guy looking for a position Ray Ford take hold. They also need a bounce back player of the year P Tom Wilcox to show his former greatness before injury derailed his last 2 seasons. 5.) Toronto Wolves - Bit of a surprise here but we like the Wolves and for them to finally show their true potential. They have a nice rotation of Otis Cook, Chuck Cole and Jake Smith. They need Art Blake to find his control to really emerge as a force in rotation. The offense is young, but has some really nice pieces in it. 6.) Philadelphia Sailors - The national publication has them finishing 2nd but we see the CA 3-6 spots really up for grabs. SP Williams Jones is always hanging around the conversation as the top pitcher in the CA. The offense has let them down the last few years and if they don't improve there then it will not be a championship season in Phily. 7.) New York Stars - They traded John Lawson and the combo on 1B Dave Trowbridge and 2B Pete Layton are getting old. They have some nice pitchers in Lou Martino with Les Zoller and Harry Carter but the latter two struggled some last year. 8.) Baltimore Cannons - This will be the last year that the Cannons should be picked to finish last. They have a prospect rotation of riches that should start to come of age in time for next year with Rufus Barrell II, Rusty Petrick, John Edwards and Gus Goulding. Those 4 kids are all in the top 18 in all the FABL prospects lists. They need to concentrate on finding some offense to go with those arms but they should start to become a force as early as next season. World Series for the 3rd straight year, New York and Cleveland and I'll go with the Forester's one last time (My personal bias coming in here) to take it home. Attached Images

04-06-2021, 03:55 PM	#45
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Tuesday April 14th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Missed Opportunity? As we prepare for Opening Day festivities here in Detroit rumors have been circulating that the Dynamo's were close to landing C Tom Bird (311/410/865 5-43 71GS 86G) from the Montreal Saints. As over 14,000 fans gather to see the Dynamo's Chuck Calvert take on the defending World Series Champion New York Gotham's and their starting pitcher Rabbit Day. Just how close were the Dynamos to acquiring such a superior talent? Well sources close to the team indicate that while the Dynamo's never made a confirmed offer, that several names were bandied about including minor league 2B Homer Ray, SS's Frank Davis and Tip Harrison and perhaps even SP Jack Wood. Instead of coming to Detroit the Saints packaged Bird and Rule 5 1B Frankie Cohen to the rival Chicago Chiefs who are looking to make a serious run at the Fed title this season. Going to the Saints were 2B Red Moore and SP Bill Ross. The question remains what would it have taken to land the 28-year-old team captain here in Detroit? Most likely it would have cost #4 prospect SP Earle Robinson and either Ray, Davis, or Harrison. Was it the right call to pass? Next - The Opening Week

04-07-2021, 12:25 PM	#47
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	1936 Week 2 Recap April 20th-26th 1936 I had a dream last night about a drink than can help baseball executives during the rough times. Unfortunately it was about 100 years in the future and I am not sure this beverage is available. But I will be on the lookout for something called Capt n Coma to try and get me through this season. If I find it I will also give some to our manager Tom Bray. Some people have said I should fire him but I think what is really needed is a better supporting cast around him. Not only players but coaches. Last week a certain former pitching coach forced my hand earlier than I had planning to replace him, but once we started on that mission we decided that we might as well make improvements elsewhere. To that end we fired mid-week our bench coach, some oaf named Morrie "fats" Lard and we replaced him with another of my former employees from Cleveland, Dave Adams. After poor Dave was demoted as manager and then let go, he hasn't found any baseball jobs, so I decided to give him one. We did get our first win of the season, a 3-2 nail bitter over the Chicago Chiefs in game 9 of the season. The Detroit World Monday April 27th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat The Dynamo Week in Review Fans of the Dynamo's have to be wondering what is going on with this team. Last year they had the worst pitching in the history of organized pro baseball, and this year it is the hitting that is at epic levels of pathetic. Somehow with bailing wire, duct tape and molasses the Dynamo pitching staff is rated #5 in the Fed with a team ERA of 4.49 and the starters somehow throwing together a 4.01 ERA. Unfortunately the lack of wins that the team is suffering from is strictly do to a floundering offense that is scoring 2.08 runs per game. Yes you read that last number right, the Dynamo offensive engine is definitely missing a spark plug or two (some would say the entire engine). Game 7 - Detroit Dynamos (0-6) 2 @ Chicago Chiefs (5-1) 3 The teams traded zeros through 7 innings as Chiefs SP Charlie Bingham and Dyno's SP Jim Crawford looked sharp. With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th LF Jim Hampton hit a single, which was the first of 3 straight (2B Len Jones and C Tom Bird) to bring across the 1st run. A groundout produced the 2nd run and then a walk and single by SP Bingham made it 3-0. The Dynamo's actually tried to mount a comeback in the top of the 9th scoring 2 runs (Hey they got their average) but the game ended with SS Pat Schring's groundout with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Game 8 - Detroit Dynamos (0-7) 1 @ Chicago Chiefs (6-1) 3 Another fine pitching effort wasted by an offense than simply can't hit. SP Carl Bragg went to 0-2 on the season but gave up just 3 runs. The problem was former Dynamo hurler SP Jack Beach has found whatever he was lacking in Brooklyn last year and gave up just 6 hits. The game started promising for the Detroit nine as in the first inning RF Howard Moss tripled and Henry Jones drove him in to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Sadly that was it as far as productive offense for the day. Game 9 - Chicago Chiefs (7-1) 2 vs Detroit Dynamos (0-8) 3 The league leading Chiefs brought the Dynamos home as the teams continued their series. A funny thing happened though at Thompson Field, the Dynamo's scored more than 0-2 runs and actually won a game 3-2. The Dyanmos did all their damage in one inning which was the 7th inning as 1B Ray Cochran hit a 2-run single to give the hometown team a 3-2 lead, and they hung onto it to win their first game of the season. Hold off on the parade though through downtown Detroit just yet. Game 10 - Chicago Chiefs (7-2) 5 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-8) 3 Only 3 runs was not enough on this day as the Chiefs picked up single runs in 5 different innings on their way to ending the Dynamo win streak at 1. CF Jose Serna did manage to collect 3 hits in 5 at-bats so at least someone is trying. Sadly his teammates could only must 3 more hits between them. Game 11 - Chicago Chiefs (8-2) 6 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-9) 2 After the Chiefs embarrassing loss to Detroit on Wednesday they obviously held a team meeting to voice their frustration at having lost a game against at AA Eastern Association club. It was a close game once again going into the 9th with Chicago leading 3-2, but enter BNN's #2 RP in all of baseball Jim Simmons who managed to lower his ERA to 15.88 (after last week it was 67.50 but he did manage a few decent outings including picking up a save in Detroit's lone victory) despite giving up 3 earned runs in the inning. Game 12 - St. Louis Pioneers(6-5) 7 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-10) 1 St. Louis is off to a less than stellar start as they are 3-5 against real FABL teams but have managed to go 4-0 now against Detroit to hang onto hopes of contending this season. SP Jim Crawford who had managed to pitch very well in his first 2 outings gave up 14 hits and 7 runs. Not that it really mattered as the Dynamo offense is making SP George Kyle look like Tom Barrell so far this season. The Dyno's managed just 4 hits and 1 walk against the pitcher who had a career record of 12-15 before this season. Game 13 - St. Louis Pioneers (7-5) 4 vs Detroit Dynamos (1-11) 3 SP Carl Bragg was in search of his first win, and things were going well but then the Dyno's went to the bullpen and his former teammate at Cincinnati (AAA -Clev) gave up 2 runs and the Dynamos found another way to lose a 1-run game. After the game Coleman who was a rule 5 pickup from the Foresters was sent back to Cleveland. Weekly Record 1-6 Season Record 1-12 9GB Summary - So the Dynamo's might be the first team ever to be out of first place by double digits in less than 3 weeks if things hold true early next week. We also received a special news report from our friends at the Newark Times (below) Newark Times Saturday April 25th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Newark Vinnie" Vincent LaGuardia Gambino Disaster in Newark The collective groans you hear coming from the West in Detroit is that of Dynamo fans as their prize pitching phenom SP Ray McCarthy went down to a season ending injury in 4th inning of Friday's game. The report is that will have to have surgery to take out bone chips from his $10,000 right arm and will miss the season. Fans in Detroit were really hoping that McCarthy would make the jump to the big league Dynamos before the end of the season. Now they will have to wait for the 22-year-old to hopefully be ready for spring training. Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 04-07-2021 at 05:26 PM.

04-10-2021, 02:08 PM	#50
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Sunday May 3, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Dynamo Farm Report AAA - Newark Aces 5-5 T-3rd 2 GB Manager - Sam Stringfellow (52) Career record 227-222 Pitching Coach - Sam Miles (57) Hitting Coach - Bob Newell (60) All eyes were on the Aces and their #1 SP Ray McCarthy as he debuted on opening day. Of course those eyes were all crying as McCarthy would only into the 4th inning before he was in pain on the mound. He successfully under went surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow and will miss the entire season. The Dynamo's are closely watching their #1 pitching prospect and hope that the missed season doesn't stunt his growth too much. The team has a fairly solid starting rotation as SP Jack Wood (23) (#3 Dynamo pitching prospect) will likely take over the #1 duties for now. Wood is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 2 outings so far. Also being watched at AAA is minor league rule 5 draft choice SP Luis Sandoval. Sandoval (24) hasn't factored into any decisions as of yet, but has been roughed up some with an ERA over 9 in 2 outings. P Donie Scheuermann 1-1 8.03 who spent a lot of time in Detroit last year is hopeful to work on a few things and get back up. But with the glut of pitchers that Detroit has that are out of options, the 27-year-old will begin the year in Newark. 1B Bill Moore (24) who had a poor spring and didn't make the cut for the opening day roster is out to prove that was a fluke. He is hitting 436/468/1083 0-9 with 7 doubles. Moore impressed the brass enough in this 10 game stretch that he is being called up to the Dynamo's and the big league club searches for offense. What the Dynamo's hope is a future double play combo in the big leagues 2B Homer Ray (308 0-7) and SS Tip Harrison (250 0-5) will be getting plenty of at-bats. AA Akron Wheels 3-7 7th 6GB Manager - John Tremain (career record 787-886) Pitching Coach - Charlie Head Hitting Coach - Dick Hand The Wheels currently are devoid of any really highly thought of prospects, but the team does like 1B Ike Myers (278/447/1003 1-8). The left-handed 22-year-old went down with a sore elbow and will be out 10-14 days. The Akron team does have the Dynamo's best C prospect in the organization in C Gus Vaden (24). Vaden is hitting 400400/867 0-3 in 9 games so far. There are not any real pitching prospects on the Wheels but they could get some in the very near future and as early as Mid-May. Currently 40-man roster player SP Jack Stemm (26) probably is pitching for his 40 roster spot and needs to have a strong season. The odds are if he is not promoted by the end of the year he will fall off the 40-man in the off-season. Stemm is 0-1 with a 4.24 ERA in 2 outings. A - Terre Haute Brewers 6-4 3rd 2GB Manager - Dick York (40) (career record 6-4) Pitching Coach - Max Wilder (38) Hitting Coach - Charlie Barry (56) (Not the current Cleveland 3B) A lot of eyes are on Terre Haute because of the big names on the coaching staff in Manager Dick York and PC Max Wilder. Having just finished their big league careers together in the last game of last season in Detroit, it is only fitting that they start their coaching careers together. Again the pitching starved Dynamo's are watching SP Earle Robinson (20) who has looked brilliant so far in 2 starts (2-0 1.38 ERA 15 strikeouts in 17 IP). If all goes well in Robinson's next start he will likely be heading up to AA Akron. Robinson is the #2 SP prospect in the Dynamo system behind Ray McCarthy and he was injured for the last 3 months of last season. So they are watching him closely, but are feeling pretty good about him. Another highly thought of prospect who has been shooting up the OSA's charts since his arrival last season in a trade is SS Frank Davis (19) who made a big jump up to class A after spending last year mainly at class C. He hit 319 in Biloxi last year but is off to a little slower start in the tougher competition of A-ball hitting 237 1-5 so far. The team feels he will adjust quickly but also figures he will likely spend all season in Terre Haute. Class B - Chattanooga Dynamo's 7-4 3rd 1/2 GB Manager - Nestor Roman (51) (Career record 80-56) Pitching Coach - John cane (61) Hitting Coach - Al Lane (55) A lot of the Dynamo's mid-range starting pitcher prospects are here in Chattanooga. The #3 pick in the 1934 draft SP Del Burns (2-0 2.70) has looked sharp in 2 outings. As has SP Art Brandon (1-0 4.09). Burns (20) has been improving a lot since his controversial #3 overall choice in the 1934 draft. He is not confusing anyone to be Rufus Barrell II, but he does look like he will provide potential value to the club. Brandon (19) was packaged along with SP Harvey Gaines (20) in a deal last year where Gaines was perceived to be the headliner. An injury to Gaines appears to have flopped those roles and now Brandon looks like the guy who might move up the charts as questions remain about the oft-injury Gaines. Last year's 2nd Round pick CF Ollie Williams (22) is starting his career leading off for Chattanooga. A lot is expected of Williams (200 1-7) so we will see if he can live up to the high draft status. Another 1935 college player taken in round 4 in last year's draft is SS Jim Parmlelee (22) (160 0-0 25 PA). OF Vito Jones (24) is a switch hitter who is not a big name on the prospect board is hitting well and is likely to move up soon. Off to a 422/481/970 0-11, he appears to be far advanced to still be in Class B ball. Class C - Biloxi Billies 6-4 3rd 1GB Manager - Tony Ross (52) (Career record 72-64) Pitching Coach - John Booker (39) Hitting Coach - Moe Davis (36) The Billies might be the rookie league team with the most eyes on them to start the year. #2 overall draft pick, 1B Red Johnson (18) has hit 367 with 5 home runs, 13 RBI's, 10 runs scored and 14 walks in just 10 games. He is being promoted to class B ahead of the Dynamo's schedule who figured he would be in Biloxi until at least the end of May. The other highly draft 1935 rookie (#5 overall), 3B Hank Koblenz (19) has gotten off to the fast start as he works to adjust to professional baseball. He is hitting just 122 in his first 10 games with 3 RBI's, but it is very early in the season. He was figured to be here in Biloxi for 2-3 months so if he can heat up in May now that he has seen some of the pitchers, he should still be on target for that promotion. Other hitting prospects to keep an eye on in Biloxi are 4th round C Eddie Miller, 8th round OF Bob Thomas and 9th round CF Charlie Bowlin. On the mound, the Billies have 4th round pick SP Floyd Frost (19) who is 2-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 2 starts. 6th round pick SP Ike O'Donnell (19) who is also 2-0 but with an even sharper 0.67 ERA. SP's Harry Frenette (19), Ray Dalpman (19), Jack Riley (21) and Joe Boyd (18) are all being closely watched in the "loaded" rookie league rotation. Attached Images

04-11-2021, 03:00 PM	#51
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Monday May 11th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Dynamo Weekly Report Well it was another rough week for the Dynamo's. The offense finally showed some signs of life for the first time this season averaging over 4 runs per game (4.3) but the pitching which had been overachieving by most accounts picked this week to fall off. The team went 1-5 as we review the games that they played. Game 21 - Detroit Dynamos (4-16) 6 @ Washington Eagles (10-10) 7 SP Chuck Calvert threw 8 solid innings but stayed on into the 9th and that was a mistake. The rallied for 3 runs in the 9th and came back to shocked Detroit 7-6. RP Jim Spencer took over the "arson role" for the Dynamos and didn't fail his new team blow his first save and taking the loss. Game 22 - Detroit Dynamos (4-17) 5 @ Washington Eagles (11-10) 11 Eagle SP Bill Anderson (5-1) was great giving up 15 hits and 4 runs, but he was better than Dynamo SP Carl Bragg who give up 13 hits and 10 runs in 7 brutal innings. LF Henry Jones did hit his 2nd home run of the season for Detroit. Game 23 - Detroit Dynamos (4-18) 8 @ Pittsburgh Miners (12-9) 7 The game was tied 4-4 going into the 9th inning with the Dynamos scoring 4 runs in their half of the 9th. Then it was hold on for what was sure to be another unique bottom of the 9th from a Detroit "Stopper". Jim Spencer just about blew it giving up 3 runs in the bottom half of the 9th but he somehow found a way to avoid disaster. 1B Bill Moore hit his first big league home run of his career in the 3rd inning. Game 24 - Detroit Dynamos (5-18) 2 @ Pittsburgh Miners (12-10) 7 Dynamos are still searching for their first winning streak of the season as they are now 0-5 following a win. Pittsburgh rookie SP Lefty Allen (2-1) tossed a 7-hitter and his only mistake was giving up a homer to CF Jack Burke who was fresh off the waiver list last week. Friday - Off day Game 25 - Detroit Dynamos (5-19) 5 @ New York Gothams (11-12) 6 Just the tonic for the "struggling" Gothams hosting the Detroit 9. It didn't' look good for Detroit going against NY SP Rabbit Day but they somehow managed to stay close. Detroit actually tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the 9th with a run, but guess what....a Detroit RP blew it in the bottom half of the inning. The guilty party this time was a new name to the bullpen fire brigade. Jim Hawkins faced 2 batters giving up a double to pinch hitter Tom Taylor and an RBI single to RF Moxie Pidgeon. Welcome to the arson squad Jim Hawkins. Game 26 - Detroit Dynamos (5-20) 2 @ New York Gothams (12-12) 10 No need for the "arson squad" to ignite this one. New York is sure happy to see Detroit come to town as they racked up 16 hits in routing Detroit. The Detroit World Monday May 11th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Weekly Farm Report AAA Newark Aces had a nice week going 5-1. SS Tip Harrison won player of the week honors in the Union League going 11-21 with a double, triple and home run with 5 RBI's. 3B Claude Merrill had a nice week as well hitting 3 home runs and 8 RBI's. His glove work playing 11 games at 3B hasn't been bad either. Maybe he has found his "new"position. AA Akron Wheelers seem to be channeling their inner parent club going 0-6 on the week and 3-13 on the season. SP Jack Stemm had a decent outing going 8.2 IP and giving up 3 runs in a loss. The team will get some help next week with the expected arrival of Class A SP Earle Robinson (3-0 0.95). A Terre Haute Brewers went 6-1 during the week behind SS Frank Davis 8 RBI's and 407 batting average. The Brewers are 12-5 on the season and are 3 games out of 1st place. They will lose SP Earle Robinson to Akron but they are replacing him with SP Del Burns (2-1 3.06) from class B. SP Hank Weyenberg had a nice week going 2-0 in 15.1 IP with a 2.93 ERA Class B Chattanooga Dynamos won 4 out of 6 games to improve their season record to 11-6. With Burns moving up SP Art Brandon will take over the #1 SP role. He is 1-0 on the season with a 3.63 ERA. All eyes were on 1B Red Johnson in his debut at the higher level. Johnson who hit 5 home runs in 2 weeks in class C didn't connect with any here. But he hit a respectable 261 with 3 doubles and drove in 4 runs. The offense star of the week went to RF Frank Buchanan who hit 450 on the week before suffering a mild quad strain. He is expected to be d-t-d for 2 weeks but will likely see limited action. Class C Biloxi Billies went 4-2 on the week to up their record to 10-6 on the season. SP Ike O'Donnell continues to impress moving his record to 3-0 on the season with a 0.45 ERA. If he has another solid outing this coming week he will likely get a shot at Class B after that. 2B Howard Rice who didn't get many opportunities last season to play is making the most of the ones he gets this year. He hit 353 on the week in 4 starts and scored 5 runs. Attached Images

04-13-2021, 01:11 AM	#52
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Finally a Winning Week and a Winning Streak It took awhile, but finally the Dynamo's had a winning week going 4-3. We also had and are still riding our now season high 2 game winning streak as we won the last 2 games of the week. With the wins our record now stands at 9-24 on the season and we are just 2.5 games out of 7th place as the Philadelphia Keystones are struggling almost as much as we are. So what turned it around for us this week? SP Chuck Murphy (who was a 1st round draft pick in 1930 going 12th to the Montreal Saints. He was then traded to Brooklyn by the Saints in the ill-fated trade that sent SP Milt Fritz to the Saints for a package of players 3B John Langille, CF Bill May, SP Murphy and a 1st round pick. Brooklyn did well in that trade with May and Langille, but gave up on Murphy and shipped him to the Chicago Chiefs for a 4th round pick before we picked him up on waivers a couple of weeks ago) went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA. Murphy (27) has never found the success that his high draft pick slot and overall prospect rating promised (he was once the #19 prospect overall). His career record before coming to Detroit was just 5-13 with a 5.20 ERA. Will he be finally able to live up to the hype? There are many doubters but one never knows. If he can find his form, he isn't too old to break out. Besides Murphy our pitching overall returned to the better than expected levels (and then some) after a brief hiatus last week. The pitching staff had a 3.06 ERA in our 7 games and if we could find a consistent offense, who knows how many we could have won with that effort. SP Chuck Calvert is still looking for his first win of the season, but it is not entirely his fault. In his start this past week Calvert threw 10 solid innings giving up just 3 runs and yet we lost the game in 13 innings 5-4 (vs Boston). On the season he is 0-4 with an ERA that grew substantially last week and is at 4.31, but if you throw out a bad start he is under 4.00 for the season. The offense continues to be the enigma for us. While we scored 31 runs (4.4 rpg) which is up, we are still only a FABL worst 3.6 on the season. Now that is greatly up from the horrendous opening two weeks where we barely scored over 2 RPG, but it is still not enough to be competitive in today's game. We saw a true test of our pitching endurance this week with our home games against Pittsburgh on Thursday and Boston on Friday. A combined 30 innings between those 2 games which we split. This week's Leaders SP Chuck Murphy 2-0 1.50 ERA 2GS 18IP 8H 3ER SP Chuck Calvert 0-0 2.70 ERA 1GS 10IP 11H 3ER RF Howard Moss 385/514/1168 OPS+199 HR, 5 RBI 7R 3B Chief Raymond 370/433/989 OPS+153 HR 7 RBI 3R SS Slim Bloom 333/355/855 OPS+ 118 HR RBI 6R Week Results Monday May 11th @ New York 8-2 Win Tuesday May 12th vs Pittsburgh 15-1 Loss Wednesday May 13th vs Pittsburgh 9-4 Loss Thursday May 14th vs Pittsburgh 7-6 Win (17) Friday May 15th vs Boston 5-4 Loss (13) Saturday May 16th vs Boston 3-2 Win Sunday May 17th vs Philadelphia 9-3 Win Roster Moves We made a lot of moves in the organization this week including another trade. We sent a 6th round pick to New York for OF Pete Thomas we I drafted several years ago in Cleveland. He was traded to New York in the deal that brought 1B Max Morris back home to Cleveland. With the Gotham's loaded outfield mix he hasn't been able to break through, but he will get a chance to play here. In order to make room for Thomas we decided to return Rule 5 OF Joel Goodwin to the Montreal Saints. Goodwin didn't get a lot of opportunities and if we hadn't made some many deals he would have had a shot at sticking for the year. But he was only 1-14 in the limited action that he saw and despite his "Demon of Demopolis" nickname, he had fallen way down the prospect rankings. Also making his first (and probably brief) stay in Detroit is P John Briel. He will get a shot at starting this week in a game but expectations aren't high even though the fans seem to like him. He was a waiver claim from Pittsburgh so we need to get a look at him. Making room for him with the arrival of OF Thomas, we decided to send OF John Cannon back to Newark. Minor League News In minor league moves we released P Al Allen (from Biloxi) and C Jim Harrison (from Newark). The biggest news of the week for the minor league organization was the promotion of 1935 draft choice SP Ike O'Donnell from Biloxi (C) to Chattanooga (B). In Biloxi he had been 3-0 with 0.35 ERA in 4GS and 26 IP's. The only real knock on him in Biloxi was really just a lack of stamina which we hope to build up in him. Attached Images

04-22-2021, 08:20 PM	#54
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	June 1936 Dynamo Record 10-18 .357 Season to Date Record 25-49 8th place 22 GB You should never be thrilled with a month that sees your record go 10-18 and yet I am not too displeased. We are hanging around and at least the comments that we are hearing from others in the league is "hey Detroit is at least being completive this year). The other factor is we don't have the worst record in the FABL, that honor goes to the Baltimore Cannons right now who are 23-52 in the CA. June saw the return of several players back up from AAA Newark, but the one that has made the biggest impact has been the bat of IF Claude Merrill. Last year Merrill moved up the ranks once I arrived in town and went from AA to AAA and even played 70 games here in Detroit. This season he opened up with the big league team and struggled. He came up as a 2B but isn't going to remind any globe wizard. He isn't a terrible fielder, I have seen a lot worse, but he doesn't stand out as a top defender. His best position is probably 1st Base but we currently have Bill Moore there and some day Red Johnson will be anchoring the bag at first for 15 years. Merrill has also played 3B some and we continue to explore that option but for him versatility might be a key for his big league career. That and hitting home runs which he does pretty good at. Since coming back from AAA Newark where he didn't exactly earned a return trip, we brought him back anyway and he has responded with a fine June stat line of 308/379/956 with 9 home runs and 24 RBI's. Most people would take that sort of production from an infielder. So no matter what slump he might find himself in, we are going to stick with him the rest of the season. We also brought back up aging veteran 3B Joe Masters who went 9-32 with a homer and 3 RBI's in 8 games. I have a lot of respect for Joe but he recently announced his retirement at the end of the season. I might try and find him a home on a pennant contender if possible. Right now I don't want to send him back to AAA but I also don't want to send him out there everyday and block someone much younger. Last season we kept C Dick York (because of what he meant to the organization) and added SP Max Wilder (because we needed anyone who could throw a ball and pitch a little bit) on a veterans farewell tour. This season, I'm not as inclined to let this be the rest stop on the way out. Now if Master's had started the year hot and hit a few home runs so he could move up the charts, I was inclined to let it happen. But when he struggled early and we were just 5-21 at one point, I decided we needed to do what was in the best interest of the ballclub. What Joe's fate is will probably be resolved around the All-Star game in a couple of weeks. Our star hitters of the month of June 2B Claude Merrill 308/379/956 9HR 24 RBI's 3B Chief Raymond 342/402/863 1HR 12 RBI's Our top pitchers for June SP Carl Bragg 2-0 3.51 ERA in 6GS started SP Ben Watkins 2-0 3.89 ERA in 6G and 4GS (Rule 5 draftee) June Transactions June saw us remain very busy on the waiver wire as we added P John Briel (Pittsburgh) and at the end of the month added another "team captain" type in LF Irv Brady (Philadelphia Sailors). We also made a trade for a long time target I had when we acquired OF Buck Waldrop (25) from the loaded Brooklyn Kings for minor league SP Bob Haynesworth. Waldrop joins a crowd OF as we DFA recent waiver pick up Jack Burke who went back to Philadelphia (Sailors) which is the team that DFA in May. We also claimed C Ben Richardson (26) off waivers from Washington. Richardson was a player I traded for in Cleveland and then shipped him out to Washington in the TR Goins deal back in 33. It never really panned out for Richardson in Washington although some could argue he didn't get many opportunities the last season and a half with just 66 PA's in Washington. He will join our catching group with Jim Kyle having taken over for Red Jackson who was sent to Newark and the recently DFA Lou Dunbar who I had hoped would thrive having been given a chance in the big leagues at age 32. We also had a our share of some injuries in June. Most prominent on this years big league club was SP Chuck Murphy had back stiffness after a start on June 17. We placed him on the IL more as a precaution than anything else and we expect him back most likely right after the All-Star game. For our future seeing SP Earle Robinson have his season cut short at the end of May (news travels slow in this era). He was struck on the elbow of a line drive while pitching and it fractured his elbow. The kid (20) was 3-0 at class A Terre Haute with a 0.95 ERA. In May we had promoted him to AA Akron where he went 3-0 with a 3.46 ERA in 4 GS. He is a top 35 prospect so seeing his season coming to an end is a blow. We will work to get him ready for next spring where he will open the year at AA and hopefully stay healthy and get to AAA in the 2nd half of the year. He makes the 2nd of our highly touted young SP to hit the shelf to a season ending injury (SP Ray McCarthy prospect #25 overall went down earlier). Another SP in the minors while not as highly touted but one that I like a lot also went down to an injury at the end of June. This one while only hoped to last for 2 weeks is a scary one as it looks like a strained rotator cuff (we call it a sore shoulder in 1936). Hopefully this isn't the start of a trend as he also had a sore shoulder in April. We will sit him down and evaluate him in a couple of weeks. He is 5-3 with a 1.82 ERA at Akron (AA) which is one of the reason why we are high on him. The scouting service only has him rated as our #29 prospect and somewhere in the 300-350 range on the big board. Next - The first week of July and the All-Star voting Attached Images

04-22-2021, 10:11 PM	#55
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Monday July 6th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Trades, trades and more trades The FABL trade deadline is at the end of July, but what has become an increasing custom in the FABL is that the trading season usually starts in June. This year the Chicago Chiefs and New York Stars got things started with the Stars sending veteran 2B Pete Layton (36) to the Chicago Chiefs for 4 minor leaguers (SP John Douglas 24, SP Mike Sanders 25, SP Monk Lemon 23, and CF Charlie Felder 20). Detroit also got in the act on this day with the previously mentioned OF Buck Waldrop acquisition from Brooklyn. The real fireworks started around the Nations birthday and by the end of that week 4 very big deals were reached. The surprising thing was 3 of the 4 deals had last years World Series Champions, the New York Gothams selling off players. In the first trade of the day the Gotham's shocked the baseball world when it woke up with the trade of superstar SP Rabbit Day (10-2 3.25 ERA) and a 3rd round pick to the Chicago Chiefs for the Chiefs 1st round draft pick, 1B/OF Ed Reyes (23), 3B Billy Dalton (22) and SP Gary Heuser (26). The Gothams who ended the day at 39-41 appear to have thrown in the towel on the season, but there was more to come. Shortly after the announced trade of Rabbit Day, the Gotham's struck again with lightening speed sending LF Moxie Pidgeon (who has won 2 straight World Championships with Cleveland and New York) and SP Jack Elder (25) to the Washington Eagles of all teams for the Eagles 1st round pick (which could still be a top 5 pick in the draft and before this deal could have been top 3) and 3 minor league players (CF Earl West #173, 1B Dick Canfield #160 and SP Fred Ratcliffe). The surprise was that the Eagles are just 34-45 this season and the acquisition of Pidgeon likely will not be enough to get them to 500 this year, but it is clearly a move signaling that the Eagles intend to be serious contenders in 1937. The final trade involving New York today was the Gotham's sending struggling young (but highly thought of SP) Curly Jones (25) who was 4-6 with a 4.90 ERA to the CA leading Brooklyn Kings for the King's 2nd round draft pick, 1B Chuck Johnson (21) and SP Mule Earl (23). Johnson is the #171 prospect in the baseball rankings as of the trade. The Jones story in New York got off to a shaky start when he was drafted 1st overall in the 1932 draft. He signed his contract, collected his bonus and then abruptly retired for a few days. Speculation is that someone got a hold of him (maybe Rufus Barrell) and shook some sense into the kid and he came back to the Gotham's. Were the bridges already set afire at that point? Only the Gotham's GM can answer that for sure. His biggest issue in his 38 game FABL career has been control or a lack of it. He is still considered supremely talented even with the less than stellar 36 season. When he broke spring camp in 1935 he was the #6 prospect in baseball, but playing in the high pressure big city of NYC can get the best of some players. Going cross town to Brooklyn who is in the middle of just missing titles, curses and intense pressure to win it all this season might not make the move easily. Jones is expected to go to AAA this year and work it out in the minors and not be thrust into the King's pressure cooker. The final trade before the All-Star break saw the Pittsburgh Miners attempt to strengthen their starting rotation depth with the acquisition of the Boston Minutemen SP Charlie Stedman. The Miners who were rumored to really want Rabbit Day but were stunned by the quickness of that deal settled on a runner up prize in Stedman. While not the "ace" that Day is, Stedman is a very good solid rotation piece that might take some of the pressure off rookie Lefty Allen. Going to Boston who has had about as much bad luck as any team in recent memory, will be a 3rd round pick (via Brooklyn) and SP Mike Lee 20 (Prospect #107) and SS Lew McClendon 19 (Prospect #66). After the All-Star game there will be roughly 3 weeks left before the trade deadline. A lot of big names have already moved, but could there be more? Top contenders Cleveland and Philadelphia in the CA and St. Louis in the FA have yet to make a move. Will the pressure mount to strike now and try and keep up with the deals continue? Will New York continue to sell of pieces of a World Champion just a half season after winning it all? And what about the Detroit Dynamo's will they get in on this? Stay tuned....... The Detroit World Monday July 6th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat All-Star Ballot Last week I turned in my All-Star ballot and while I do not expect any Dynamo's to be named this year, we hope that will change very soon in the coming years. For the most part the picks were pretty straight forward although there were a few surprises. First the FA with my vote in BOLD CATCHER 1. George Cleaves, Pittsburgh Miners 8 2. Tom Bird, Chicago Chiefs 1 3. Jack Flint, St. Louis Pioneers 1 FIRST BASE: 1. Harry Shumate, Washington Eagles: 4 2. Rankin Kellogg, Philadelphia Keystones: 2 3. Fred McCormick, St. Louis Pioneers: 2 SECOND BASE 1. Freddie Jones, St. Louis Pioneers: 10 THIRD BASE 1. Bob Martin, Chicago Chiefs: 6 2. Ed Stewart, Pittsburgh Miners: 3 1. Jim Beard, Washington Eagles 4 2. Erv Smith, New York Gothams: 3 3. Earl Michael, St. Louis Pioneers: 2 LEFT FIELD 1. Moxie Pidgeon, New York Gothams: 6 2. Joe Owens, Pittsburgh Miners: 3 3. Jim Hampton, Chicago Chiefs: 1 CENTER FIELD:value_bold#0> 1. Chick Donnelly, Boston Minutemen: 6 2. Wally Flowers, Washington Eagles: 4 RIGHT FIELD 1. Bobby Barrell, Philadelphia Keystones: 7 2. Mahlon Strong, New York Gothams: 2 3. Pete Day, Boston Minutemen: 1 STARTING PITCHER 1. Rabbit Day, New York Gothams: 9 2. Al Miller, Chicago Chiefs: 7 3. David Abalo, St. Louis Pioneers: 6 4. Lefty Allen, Pittsburgh Miners: 3 5. Bill Anderson, Washington Eagles: 2 RELIEVER 1. Don Attaway, Philadelphia Keystones: 5 2. Earl Farrar, Philadelphia Keystones: 2 3. Gary Harris, New York Gothams: 2 4. Dutch Sheldon, St. Louis Pioneers: 2 5. Chick Stout, Pittsburgh Miners: 2 FA Summary - 3 spots were absolute locks with C George Cleaves, 2B Freddie Jones and RF Bobby Barrell. Honestly I think it is criminal that Barrell didn't join Jones as an unanimous choice. We have a changing of the guard this year at 1B as perennial choice Rankin Kellogg hasn't had his usual MVP type season and that allowed unheralded Washington 1B Harry Shumate to sneak in and steal the honors. Shumate has had a very impressive season and even got my vote. The only position I think really should have gone the other way was at 3B where veteran Bob Martin edged out Pittsburgh's Ed Stewart. Stewart has powered the top scoring offense in the FA and in my opinion his numbers are better this season than Martin who is having a fine season in his own right. The CA Voting went as follows CATCHER 1. T.R. Goins, Cleveland Foresters: 8 2. Fred Barrell, Brooklyn Kings: 1 FIRST BASE 1. Dick Walker, Philadelphia Sailors: 8 2. Max Morris, Cleveland Foresters: 1 3. Frank Vance, Brooklyn Kings: 1 SECOND BASE 1. Red Moore, Montreal Saints: 5 2. Brooks Meeks, Cleveland Foresters: 2 3. Ray Ford, Chicago Cougars: 1 4. Walt Layton, Brooklyn Kings: 1 THIRD BASE 1. John Lawson, Chicago Cougars: 7 2. Charlie Barry, Cleveland Foresters: 3 SHORTSTOP 1. Harry Barrel, Brooklyn Kings: 9 2. George Dawson, Cleveland Foresters: 1 LEFT FIELD 1. Lou Williams, Philadelphia Sailors: 9 CENTER FIELD 1. Dan Fowler, Cleveland Foresters: 9 RIGHT FIELD:value_bold#0> 1. Al Wheeler, Brooklyn Kings: 8 2. Fred Quinn, Cleveland Foresters: 1 STARTING PITCHER 1. Tom Barrell, Brooklyn Kings: 10 2. Dean Astle, Cleveland Foresters: 9 3. Lyman Weigel, Cleveland Foresters: 6 4. William Jones, Philadelphia Sailors: 2 5. Chuck Cole, Toronto Wolves: 1 6. Dick Luedtke, New York Stars: 1 7. Mike Murphy, Brooklyn Kings: 1 RELIEVER 1. Bert Henggeler, Brooklyn Kings: 4 2. Phil English, Toronto Wolves: 3 3. Sergio Gonzales, Cleveland Foresters: 3 4. Walt Wells, Philadelphia Sailors: 2 5. CA Summary - The CA voting is for the most part much easier than the FA. The CA really has several players that are head and shoulders over the rest of the field in at least reputation. The biggest surprise in the CA is the story of Cleveland SP Lyman Weigel who honestly has never amounted to very much in his career. He has been DFA at least 3 times in his career but at age 32 he has finally maybe figured it out. He is 9-2 with a 2.34 ERA on the season. The All-Star game should be a very good game with these rosters and we will see if the CA can finally break through or if the FA will continue its dominance and win its 4th straight.

04-23-2021, 06:26 PM	#56
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	July 1936 1st week So the calendar flips the page and we start to the 2nd half of the season. With the All-Star game coming up on Tuesday, that will be the start of the 2nd half of the season in most people minds as a clean break. The Dynamo's actually seemed to like turning into July as we started off the month with a nice 4-2 week (5-3 counting the last 2 games in June). We sit at 29-51 overall and are in last place by 5 games ahead of the Keystones (33-45). Right now we are on pace to win 56 games which means we have moved ahead of the pace to avoid 100 losses. Hopefully we can keep it up. July 1-5th results 7/1: Detroit Dynamos @ St. Louis Pioneers - Win, 6-1. Dynamos Upend Pioneers, 6-1 W: B. Watkins (3-3) L: D. Lee (1-11) . HR - None 7/2: Detroit Dynamos @ St. Louis Pioneers - Loss, 10-11. Dynamos Lose to Pioneers in Walk Off W: B. Curtin (5-2) L: J. Briel (1-4) . HR - DET: J. Kyle (1) 7/3: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Win, 9-7. Dynamos Top Chiefs in Extras, 9-7 W: R. Lee (2-3) L: L. Brown (3-7) . HR - DET: H. Jones (8) CHI: P. Layton (8) 7/4: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Loss, 2-4. Dynamos Handed 4-2 Loss by Chicago W: C. Bingham (9-6) L: R. Benson (0-5) . HR - CHI: P. Layton (9) 7/4: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Win, 6-3. Dynamos Win at Chicago, 6-3 W: C. Calvert (5-9) L: J. Beach (9-6) . HR - None 7/5: Detroit Dynamos @ Chicago Chiefs - Win, 8-7. Dynamos Edge Past Chiefs, 8-7 W: J. Spencer (4-3) L: L. Brown (3-8) . HR - CHI: B. Martin (5), C. Moss (11) Top Performers C. Calvert : 2 Wins, 18.0 IP, 2 BB, 1 K, 1.50 ERA C. Raymond : 16 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .563 AVG, 1.250 OPS H. Jones : 31 AB, 7 H, 2 HR, 11 RBI, .226 AVG, .749 OPS It was nice to see SP Chuck Calvert bounce back after a rough June with 2 wins this week. Calvert who has been a RP most of his career was thrust into the #1 SP role this year and has gone 5-9 with a 5.00 ERA. Not great numbers and not what you want from a #1 SP, but considering where we were last season, it is sadly an improvement. We also will be welcoming back SP Chuck Murphy who was 5-1 before his injury in June after the All-Star Break to hopefully boost the rotation a bit. With Calvert, Murphy and the resurgent Carl Bragg, we can at least not be completely embarrassed about the folks we are throwing out there. Offensively it is nice to see 3B Chief Raymond who has seen his playing time decrease again with the return of Joe Master at least continuing to hit. He took over the starting job last year and had a nice season of hitting 309/372/803 and drove in 56 RBI's. This year he is hitting 317/372/803 with 35 RBI's in about half the at-bats he received last season. He isn't a bad player with the bat, but we do like a little more power at that position. Raymond though just goes about his business despite the interruptions in playing time and continues to hit right around 310. He could be an excellent bench bat on a contending team but we will keep him around and for the most part let him play several times a week. Next - The All-Star Game and A new Record was achieved recently Attached Images

04-23-2021, 06:32 PM	#57
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The 1936 All-Star Game Continental Association Defeats Federal Association 6-4 in Tight All-Star Game. Dick Walker shined brightly tonight against the best talent that the FABL has to offer. The all-star was named MVP for the annual mid-season showcase held at Pioneer Field II, as his Continental Association All-Stars downed the Federal Association All-Stars by a count of 6-4. "It's humbling to even play in a game like this with legends of the sport all around you," he said. Walker went 2 for 2 to capture the honor. With the victory the Continental Association All-Stars got their first win in the now 4 year old competition. An overflow crowd of 47,590 fans crammed into St. Louis' Pioneer Field to watch the game. Attached Images

04-23-2021, 06:51 PM	#58
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	The Detroit World Monday July 9th, 1936 Sports News From the Desk of "Fast" Freddie Farhat Former Detroit Skipper's Record Passed Sometimes news travels slow in this era and record-keeping is still an art that is forming. That said Detroit's former manager and now minority owner George Theobald is no longer the all-time wins holder in FABL history. Baltimore Cannons manager Ossie "Oysters" Julious overtook Theobald on a cold night in Toronto when his Cannons won a rare game 8-4. The news of this record didn't really spread around the league much, but it was Theobald himself that let me know about it. Theobald who is extremely proud of his accomplishments called Julious and congratulated him on the record. Julious has been managing now for 31 seasons and with the Baltimore franchise struggling the last few years some wondered if he would even get a chance to break the record. For his career Theobald was 2237-1955 for a career winning percentage of .534. Julious now stands at 2246-2385 for a 485 winning percentage. Now Julious has managed the most games in FABL history and hold the records for most wins and losses in a managerial career. At 63 years of age there is a question of how much longer Julious will manage and with Baltimore in a long term rebuild the question is how much more losing he can tolerate. There are really no current managers who are a serious threat to the record. The active manager that is highest on the list at #9 is New York Stars manager Bill Craigen who is in his 17 season as the Stars manager. With Craigen being 56 years old currently, it is unlikely that he will manage for the 13-15 years it is estimated he would need to break the mark set by Oysters. The manager who might someday have the best shot at breaking it is Cleveland Forester's manager Jim Wilson who is only 33 and just in his 4th season. The Forester's have been a major force in the FABL in the last 4 years and Wilson has a career record of 332-203 (.621). He is young enough and if he stays in the game long enough, he stands an excellent chance of someday having the most career wins. But he is a long long way off from that. Attached Images

05-03-2021, 03:55 PM	#59
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Detroit Dynamo's Minor League Prospect Update July 1936 Well the bag is definitely mixed on the Dynamo top prospects but it is only half a season so far. The bad is definitely the injuries to SP Ray McCarthy (22) who never got a chance to get going this year suffering an injury in his first outing of the season. Obviously fans and management were very concerned about the teams #3 prospect (#24 overall) but he is slated to make a full recovery and be in the mix for the big league club rotation in 1937. The #4 prospect (#43 overall) SP Earle Robinson went down in late May taking a line drive off his elbow. Robinson, just 20 was 6-0 in 7 starts between A and AA with an ERA in the low 2's. He will be ready for spring training and while he could be a rotation candidate the money is that he will be in AA or AAA getting some more minor league innings. The teams #1 prospect (#8 overall) 1B Red Johnson got off to a fantastic start in April hitting 5 home runs and tearing apart the rookie league. Since that time he cooled off and found the pitching at class B a little more challenging. We have to remember he is still only 18 (his 19th birthday is after the season is over). He has hit 8 home runs so far on the year but his bat has cooled to 262 on the season. While we wish he was dominating class B like he did C ball, his star is still very bright and we will let him develop in his own time frame. 3B Hank Koblenz (19) had a very challenging time at Class C Biloxi. He never got really going until his last week there when he hit just under 300 for the week. He ended up only hitting 185 while in Biloxi with 4 home runs. He has faired better overall hitting 262 in his brief time up with Class B Chattanooga paired with a hitting coach that is more known for working better with power hitters. The 2nd half of the season will tell the story but Koblenz is still our #2 prospect but he did slip out of the top 10 to #12. The kid that is on a meteoric rise is SS Frank Davis (19). He has risen up the ranks quickly and is now in the top 50 overall checking in a #47. The #5 system prospect hit well over 300 at Class A (374) and has moved up to AA Akron where he is hitting a very respectable 276. While not a power hitter at all, he has driven in 52 RBI's on the year and looks like a real solid candidate to be the future Dynamo SS. (Note - He has since moved on to AAA). Davis came over in the deal with Pittsburgh last season that send veteran (aging) SP Ray Calfee to the Miners with Davis and a 4th round pick (SP Floyd Frost) coming to Detroit. Detroit's #6 prospect is SP Jack Wood (23) who is the #66 overall prospect and the oldest of the top bunch. He was drafted by Brooklyn out of college in the 1935 draft and after the trade he was placed at AAA ball. Probably too early for that last year and he struggled some with a 5.00 ERA. This season he is pitching much better at Newark and is 4-4 with an ERA around 4. If he continues he will likely get a late season callup to the big leagues to just get a taste of it. He is likely to be in the starting 5 next year for Detroit unless he struggles badly in spring training. Our #7 and #8 prospects will fall off this list because of service time (1B Bill Moore #71 overall prospect) and a combo of service time and age for #95 prospect CF Pete Thomas. Moore has been with the big league team for most of the season has a 317/413/904 batting line. Thomas came over in a trade with the NY Gothams and is right now hitting 343 in AAA Akron. He will likely be up with the big league club sooner rather than later, although minor league options might play a role in the big league club makeup. #9 Prospect (overall #97) SS Tip Harrison (24) has been playing along side what some hope is Detroit's future double play partner 2B Homer Ray (23 - #11 and #119 overall). Harrison is hitting 275 with Newark while Ray is hitting 316. While Frank Davis's rise through the system has some people looking past Harrison, many still feel that he will be a big factor in a rebuilt Detroit club as soon as next season. Ray is making his mark and will likely be in the running for the Dynamo's 2B job in spring training. #10 Prospect CF Ollie Williams (22) was drafted in the 2nd round last year and has been at Class B all season. It hasn't come easy for the game's #107 prospect as he is hitting 245/350/716 so far this season. There is some thinking to move him up and match him up better with a hitting coach that is more aligned with his approach, but so far that hasn't happened. With Williams in the fold at CF, the thinking is that the team doesn't need draft prospect CF Sal Pestilli and that they might go another way if they land the #1 pick next year's draft. Overall the team has 31 prospects in the top 357 with 18 in the top 200. While the struggles on the field continue and they big league club still needs help just about everywhere, they are building a solid farm system in a relatively short amount of time. Below are the standings, hitting and pitching numbers for the Dynamo's through the All-Star Break. Attached Images

05-03-2021, 04:18 PM	#60
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 972	Detroit Dynamo's July 1936 Report July Record 11-17 Overall Record 36-66 July got off to a solid start early but the team faded down the closing of the month. The team appears headed to their 2nd straight last place finish in the FA and team owner Eddie Thompson is currently very upset although he was angry before the All-Star Break. OF Irv Brady who was picked up at the beginning of the month, has been a solid hitter and brought some more stability and leadership to the club. July's top hitters 1B Bill Moore 362/463/971 10 RBI's with 10 doubles OF Ray Cochran 355/383/949 3-16 SS Slim Bloom 333/370/790 0-4 8R Producing runs is still a large problem for this team. While their production in July is better than their early season numbers, the 4.07 rpg (114 runs scored) is still not going to cut it in the FA where most teams are scoring 5+ a game (league average is 5.4). The issue of scoring enough runs is quickly becoming this organizations top priority. July's top Pitchers RP Ray Benson 4G 0-1 3.00 15 IP While run production has been a season long problem, the pitching in the first half of the year was noticeably better. That stopped in July when signs of the 35 pitching staff reared its ugly head. The team ERA in July was 6.33 which was worse than the numbers seen last year (barely). There really is much positive to say about it right now. We hope that it is just a horrible month and not a sign for things to come. The team's run differential for July was -66 scoring 114 runs and giving up 180. So looking that it could have been a worse month for the team. July's Pitching and Hitting numbers below Attached Images