FABL - Cleveland Foresters Mediocrity at its worst - Page 3

DD Martin · 03-12-2020, 04:57 PM

Week 3 of the Never Ending Road Trip

We have the 1 remaining game in New York against the Stars Monday and then move across town to take on the Brooklyn Kings. Before I get into the Kings and the rest of this week I need to go back and touch on the meeting that was had a week ago when we can home for that 1 game against Toronto.

The Cleveland P-I Editor met we our owner and myself to discuss the issues surrounding the P-I's columnist "Angry" Ronald William Apter. To our surprise P-I Owner Russell Howard was the one that came into the meeting along with his Editor James E Swift. Long story short it was agreed that Apter would not accompany the team on this road trip, but would be allowed back into pressbox and locker rooms once we return home. The paper stated firmly that they are standing behind Apter but, that they would "try to take the poison out of his pen". While it would be nice for the paper to represent us fairly and not have some personal bias or grudge against us, the paper is also a major sponsor for the team and Mr. Marshall didn't want that to change. So Angry Ronny will be back, but for now I will enjoy the coverage of the team without his vitriol.

Game 53 - Cleveland Foresters (25-27) 5 @ New York Stars (22-30) 9
Stars defeat Foresters to snap their skid

Records for this game were somehow lost. I suspect Ron Apter has something to do with it. What we do know is that Russ Franklin hit his 2nd home run for the Foresters and that Pete Layton his 5th for the stars. Both teams got 12 hits and Jack Mast looked like the Jack Mast of old in taking the loss.

WP - Dick Richards 1-1 6.75 LP - Jack Mast 2-1 3.72
Season Record 25-28

(Side note on the above game, for some reason when I check the boxscore it gave me the St Louis vs Phily Keystone game. So while on the schedule page I could get some details, I didn't dig too hard to see why everything was so skewed).

GM Thoughts - After a forgettable game Monday we move across town to face the suddenly struggling Brooklyn Kings who have lost 7 in a row. This is the same team that came into town last month and swept us in 4 games. This series is also 4 games so I hope we can return the favor. The Kings are a young team and while winning can be contagious, losing can be a huge mental strain on a team so young. They are still in 2nd place, but have now fallen to 9.5 games back of the Sailors and are just a half game ahead of the now surging Chicago Cougars. We are currently in a tie for 5th with the Montreal Saints but just a game out of 3rd.

Game 54 - Cleveland Foresters (25-28) 21 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-23) 6
Foresters score 3 Touchdowns in routing the slumping Kings

Yes you read that right, the Foresters scored 21 runs and really embarrassed the Kings at home. Some Brooklyn fan trying to explain the lopsided result claimed the Foresters were stealing signs. If they were, they should keep doing it as they rapped out 25 hits and 21 runs. C Josh Fry scored 4 runs going 3-5, Moxie Pidgeon and Joe Perret each hit their 10th homeruns of the season. SP Eddie Gray was back in the rotation for this one and even got 3 hits and scored 3 runs.

WP - Eddie Gray 5-3 6.09 LP - Dave Rankin 0-3 15.85
Season Record 26-28

Game 55 - Cleveland Foresters 26-28 3 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-24)
Foresters extend Kings slide to 9 straight

In a game that was the complete opposite of yesterdays affair, the Foresters road the strong pitching of George Barker (5-5) to beat the Kings 3-1. The only run the Kings got was 2B Bill Scott's 16th home run of the season. Jack Gunderson recorded his 5th save after having a tough stretch early in the trip.

WP - George Barker 5-5 4.69 LP - Tommy Wilcox 6-5 3.48 S- Jack Gunderson 5 4.72
Season Record 27-28

Game 56 - Cleveland Foresters (27-28) 3 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-25) 1
Foresters claw their way back to 500 with CF Bobby Allen hitting a clutch 2-run single in the 9th to win it.
Forester Manager Hank Leitzke was all smiles after the game stating that "whenever we hold the other team to 1 run, like we have the last 2 days, I like our chances.". Profound words indeed from the Forester manager, who some feel like is a miracle worker to get this team to play even close to 500 ball. SP Jack Thompson went the whole way with a 6 hitter to nail down the win.

WP - Jack Thompson 5-7 4.29 LP - Jim Langley 8-4 4.46
Season Record 28-28

Game 57 - Cleveland Foresters (28-28) 12 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-26) 7
Cleveland returns sweep favor and sends Kings to 11th straight defeat.
Perret hit a homer (11), Pidgeon hits 2 (12) to lead the Foresters to the 4-game sweep on the road. Pidgeon and 3B Jake Moore now share the team RBI lead with 44 each, and Joe Perret has 39. The Forester offense really came to life against the struggling Kings in the first and last games of the series, while the pitching dominated the middle games.

WP - Jack Mast 3-1 4.37 LP - Jack Wardle 2-3 7.45
Season Record 29-28
Road Trip 9-8

GM Thoughts - While I am thrilled to see us get a huge sweep, it saddens me some to see the Kings on this long losing streak that is now at 11. These guys (pointing to the Kings clubhouse) are going to be a real force in this league in the coming years and sometimes the growing pains and lessons can be tough on such a young team.

As for our team a nice little stretch of winning 6 out of 7 sure makes one feel better. Some of the pitching performances over the last few days have made me at least temper my thoughts of bringing up the youngsters before they are ready. I do have some growing concerns at 1B as George Simpson and Luke Nixon have pretty evenly split time there this year and neither has delivered what we hoped. They are not playing terribly as both are around 300 in batting average, but they are not scoring or driving in runs like I would want to see out of a power position like 1st base. We don't really have a power hitting 1B option in the organization either that is near ready, even though we have tried to find one.

On the other side, the play of C Josh Fry and 3B Jake Moore has been a pleasant surprise. I was so concerned about Moore that we brought in Harry Stroud on an early season waiver claim, but he has hardly touched the field with how well Moore is playing. And with Barney Green hitting well in his 1-2 games a week, we are keeping Fry fresh and he is hitting a career best 336 so far.

Now we head off to Baltimore for a 5 game series over 4 days (Saturday-Tuesday). Both teams have identical 29-28 records going into the series.

Game 58 - Cleveland Foresters (29-28) 15 @ Baltimore Cannons (29-28) 5 10th
10-Run 10th inning seals the win for Foresters to run win streak to 5 and 7 out of 8.

Something you don't see everyday, an extra inning game that is decided by 10 runs. Before the wild 10th, the 9th inning was also wild as the game was tied at 3 going into the 9th when Cleveland scored 2 to take a 5-3 lead. But they couldn't hold it in the bottom half and gave up 2 to see the game go to extra's tied at 5.

The Foresters then scored 10 runs, on 9 hits and 3 walks against 3 Cannon pitchers. Cleveland hit 4 doubles in the inning and enjoyed winning in such a shocking way.

WP - Eddie Gray 5-3 5.98 LP - Paul Reed 1-6 6.28
Season Record 30-28

Game 59 - Cleveland Foresters (30-28) 4 @ Baltimore Cannons (29-29) 7
Cannons strike back end Foresters win streak at 5

Cannon SP Rabbit Day got his 10th win of the season going 8.1 and giving up 4 runs (2 earned) against the Foresters. Day over the years has had the Foresters number often and today he struck out 7 Cleveland hitters. Forester pitchers issues 8 walks including 4 to Cannon C Joe Welch.

WP - Rabbit Day 10-6 3.50 LP - George Barker 5-6 4.87
Season Record 30-29
Road Trip 10-9 Road Record 14-14

GM Thoughts - Overall a great week for us going 5-2 but that last game left a sour taste in my mouth. We are almost through with this marathon road trek and sitting at 10-9 on it makes me feel pretty good. Now if we can just finish strong with these 3 games Monday and Tuesday against the Cannons, we should be in pretty good shape heading into the final part of June.

DD Martin · 03-12-2020, 06:15 PM

The End of the Road Trip

We have 3 games on Monday and Tuesday (DH Tuesday) against the Cannons to end our 22 game (out of 23) odyssey on the road in the CA. When we left for this trip back on May 26th we were 20-19 and in 3rd place behind Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Now as we have the last 3 games of the trip staring us in the face we are 30-29 tied with the Cannons for 4th still behind Brooklyn and now Chicago who are 2nd and 3rd respectively. Chicago is the team that has caught fire and climbed the ranks. Brooklyn has at least stopped the losing skid, but is now 10.5 games out of the division lead with Philadelphia putting its foot on the throats of the rest of the CA.

We have a shot at having a winning road trip overall but we need to win 2 out of 3 to secure it. A tough order against a Baltimore team that I think is just waiting to explode. Hopefully they don't start an explosive run against us the next two days.

On the transaction front we have been really quiet. SP Harvey Tully finished his rehab stint (and I nearly lost him because I was out of pocket for a few days). I decided that I hadn't seen enough from Harvey yet to bring him back. In 6 starts in Cincinnati (AAA) he is 1-1 with a 3.30 ERA. His WHIP hasn't been too bad at 1.13 which is a heck of a lot better than the 2.73 WHIP he had with the big club. His walks are way down 1.5 compared to 6.5. I really want Harvey to make it back, he brings great leadership and I still believe he can be a really good pitcher at this level and not just at the AAA level. Maybe he is a AAAA player though, he will likely get his chance to show us he can pitch in the coming weeks.

Game 60 - Cleveland Foresters (30-29) 6 @ Baltimore Cannons (30-29) 10
Foresters Waste Great Day at the Plate for Pidgeon in Loss

RF Moxie Pidgeon was 4-5 slugging 2 home runs (14) and driving in 3 (48) while scoring 3 times (49). SP Jack Thompson had a rough day against the hard hitting Baltimore lineup giving up 9 earned runs on 10 hits and 6 walks in 4 innings. That sort of effort just isn't going to cut it for a long period.

WP - Ken Carpenter 8-6 3.46 LP - Jack Thompson 5-8 4.86 S - Paul Vandeburg 1 3.46
Season Record 30-30

Game 60 - Cleveland Foresters (30-30) 9 @ Baltimore Cannons (31-29) 11
Game 61 - Cleveland Foresters (30-31) 2 @ Baltimore Cannons (32-29) 6
Baltimore's Bats Power Double-Header Sweep

In the first game 1B Lou Kelly who was often a target for the 1B starved Foresters hit 2 home runs (13) and drove in 3 (58) in leading Baltimore in a slugfest in game 1 of the double-header against the now mortal Jack Mast.

Game 2 was a solid pitching matchup that saw Cannons sometimes SP Buzz Ham get his 4th win on the season. The travel weary Foresters managed just 4 hits in the 2nd game.

Game 1 WP - Jim Hitchcook 1-0 5.11 LP - Ed Smith 1-1 5.74
Game 2 WP - Buzz Ham 4-1 2.65 LP - Eddie Gray 6-4 5.89

Season Record 30-32
Road Trip Record 10-12 Road Record 14-17

GM Thoughts - Well thankfully that is over and we get a to travel home and lick our wounds. Not a terrible trip for the length of time we had to endure on the road, but losing those last 4 in Baltimore sure took some of the shine off of things. We head home to take on the Brooklyn Kings for 3 games (Thursday-Saturday) before starting a 4 game series against Montreal starting on Sunday. This marks a stretch of 14 straight home games that will take us to July 2nd before we head back north of the border for a July 4th weekend series against the Toronto Wolves. It would have been nice to have the scheduled double-header on the 4th at home instead of Canada.

Looking back at the Kings, we just swept them last week to even the season series against them at 4-4 wins a piece with each team winning a 4-game series at the other teams home park. I certainly hope that we can reverse the road team trend in this series. Since we left Brooklyn the Kings stopped their 11-game losing streak beating Toronto in the first 2 games of a series, but then dropped the next 2 against the Wolves. So they still appear to be struggling as they come our way.

Game 63 - Brooklyn Kings (32-29) 4 @ Cleveland Foresters (30-32) 5 12 innings
3B Moore wins it in 12th with run scoring single.

SP's Lyman Weigel (Brk) and George Barker (CL) dueled for the most of 9 innings with both giving up 3 runs. Both teams scored in the 11th and the Foresters finally pushed home the winning run on Moore's RBI-single to make Joe McCoy the winner in relief (4-5)

WP - Jo McCoy 4-5 4.99 LP - Topsy Moran 4-3 7.50
Season Record 31-32

Game 64 - Brooklyn Kings (32-30) 8 @ Cleveland Foresters (31-32) 10
Foresters Hang on despite rocky outing from Thompson

The Foresters evened their record once again at 32-32 while dropping the Kings for the 6th straight time in games between the 2 teams. The Foresters clearing went too long with SP Jack Thompson who gave up 3 runs in the 9th (and 8 overall) before Jack Gunderson slammed the door with 3 straight outs and the save (6) to preserve the win.

WP - Jack Thompson 6-8 5.13 LP - Tommy Wilcox 7-6 3.98 S - Jack Gunderson 6 4.29
Season Record 32-32

Game 65 - Brooklyn Kings (32-31) 2 @ Cleveland Foresters (32-32) 8
Foresters Sweep Kings for 2nd Time in Two Weeks

The Foresters have won 7 straight against Brooklyn as this time it was a great start from SP Jack Mast (4-1) giving up just 4 hits and 2 runs to get the win. Cleveland got 5 walks and 8 hits, mostly singles to efficiently score 8 runs to move back above 500 and ahead of the Kings in the standings.

WP - Jack Mast 4-1 4.88 LP - Jim Langley 8-6 4.69
Season Record 33-32 4th place in CA 10.5 games behind Philadelphia
Home Record 19-15

Game 66 - Montreal Saints (32-33) 13 vs Cleveland Foresters (33-32) 7
Former Foresters C Frank Haab's 4-4 ruins Forester Sunday

The Saints pulled even in the standings with the Foresters as Frank Haab once a teammate of most of these Foresters went 4-4 including his first home run of the season as the Saints walloped Cleveland at home. SP Eddie Gray's Jekyll l and Hyde was definitely a stinker Hyde in this one. While Gray has a winning record at 6-5, his ERA suggests that he is extremely lucky as it stands at an ugly 6.14. There are some whispers about how long the Foresters will stick with the youngster before sending him down to AAA Cincinnati.

WP - Harvey Rodgers 2-2 5.48 LP - Eddie Gray 6-5 6.14
Season Record 33-33

GM Thoughts - Kind of a Jekyll and Hyde sort of week. Losing 3 at the beginning of the week to end the trip, then winning 3 against the free-falling Kings only to turn in a real dud in Sunday's game. So we sit at 500 in a flat-footed tie for 4th with the Saints. We begin next week continuing this series with the Saints and I want to see us really come to play.

We are really starting to watch our pitchers. I have seen a lot of bad pitching this year and am about to try some new things if it doesn't change. SP Eddie Gray has been frankly pretty lousy this year and has gotten a pass. He has actually been out pitched by just about everyone. Veteran Jack Thompson has his moments and I am going to talk to Hank about maybe shortening his leash a bit. We have been riding with 8 pitchers and I think I'm going to have us go back to 9. We brought a couple of guys in off waivers to support our starters. One has done well and the other hasn't really gotten much of a chance. It might be time to cut bait on one.

Also I am getting really close to a regular season experiment at 1B. George Simpson is now hitting 360 in June, but still not much power. He has his average up to 300 now. Luke Nixon is hitting 290 on the season but only 244 in June. I would like to see AAA 1B Smith who is hitting 324 at Cincinnati get a shot with us. What we are going to do I am not sure, but we are going to do something in the very near future.

Next - The End of June Deep Minor League Reports

DD Martin · 03-12-2020, 06:39 PM

One of the things that I want to incorporate more going forward is information and reports on our minor league teams. So far in this sort of rebuilding year (the Seattle Mariners wish that re-imaging were this easy) we are playing better, more competitively than I expected. So with that competitiveness my focus has been solely on the major league team. The next few posts are going to focus exclusively on our minor league teams.

The Cleveland Foresters have 5 minor league teams

AAA - Cincinnati Steamers (Union League)
AA - Portland Pipers (Eastern Association)
A - Reading Coal Barons (Middle Atlantic League)
B - Savannah Privateers (Southeastern League)
C - Ottumwa Owls (Upper Mississippi Valley Association

One of the things that I really have harped on in our minor league system is establishing winning environments while grooming the future big league players. I think we have done that and have been pleased that we have had so much success in the minors in now our 5th season.

While we dive into the teams at each level and how they have done the last few years and specifically the stats for the current season. We will also dive into our top prospects in the organization. The BNN doesn't love our system with their player ratings. We do have 5 in the top 100, but none higher than 31st. We have 10 more in the 101-200 range.

We will also be looking at moving some players who deserve promotion up as our minor league teams move into the 2nd half of their seasons. Below is a list of our top prospects by the BNN and how they are doing this season.

Next : Our first review will be of the 3-time defending Union League Champions, the Cincinnati Steamers.

DD Martin · 03-13-2020, 12:44 PM

AAA – Cincinnati Steamers
Union League

The Steamers have a proud history and have been more successful than their big league affiliate the Foresters. Cincinnati has won the last 3 Union League Championships and appear well on their way to winning a 4th straight crown. The teams record since GM Martin has taken over has been

1926 70-70 10GB 4th
1927 84-56 --- League Champions
1928 88-52 --- League Champions
1929 97-43 --- League Champions
1930 48-14 --- *Leading league by 9 ½
Overall 387-235 .622

Fans in Cincinnati have wanted an FABL team for years and even some say that they and Cleveland should switch spots as Cincinnati is the better market. That hasn’t happened and under former owner the late Harold Marshall it wouldn’t have been considered. But with Harold’s son Elmer in charge now, there is speculation that he might consider moving the team to Cincinnati if he felt the climate was right in the league office. Last year the Steamers outdrew all of the Federal League teams except the league champion Philadelphia Sailors and outdrew their parent club by over 394,000 fans.

This year the Steamers started the year rather slowly by their standards sitting in 4th place at 13-10. Since that time, they have gone a remarkable 35-4 to grab control of the league lead. They are led by a strong pitching staff and also have a fairly good hitting cast as well. Several players on this team are knocking on the door to be called up to the big-league club and it could happen very soon.

Key Hitting Prospects on the Steamer Club are

#5 Cleveland Prospect – CF Leo Clark B-L Age-23 (Not on 40-man roster)
Clark was the Forester #1 draft pick (#12th overall) in the 1928 Draft. He split his rookie season Class A Reading (105 games) and then was promoted to AA Portland where he played in 28 games. He actually had greater statistical success at AA where he hit 376 compared to 292 at Class A. As he matures the scouts feel that he will develop above average power, but and so far this season he has hit 7 homeruns compared to just 1 all of last season. This season he is hitting 299/417/879 at AAA Cincinnati and if he continues on that pace, he is likely to be a late-season callup. Depending on his continued development he could be the opening day CF for the Foresters in 1931.

#15 Cleveland Prospect – RF Mike Williams B-L Age-25 (Not on 40-man roster)
Williams was the Foresters #1 draft pick (#13th overall) in the 1926 draft. His climb has been a little slower than that of Clark but his hitting has really begun to show. He spent his rookie season in Class A in 1927 and a large part of the 1928 season there as well before graduating to AA. He again split time in A/AA early in 1929 before moving up to the Steamers. Last season his power really began to emerge as he hit 34 homeruns last year and has hit a staggering 33 this season. The corner OF is crowded in Cleveland so he will either have to learn a new position or could become a trade candidate. Rumors have it that Cleveland might try him at 1B the 2nd half of the season.

#30 Cleveland Prospect – CF Frank Moseley B-L Age 25
Moseley was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Saints on November 5th 1928 and was figured to be the heir apparent in CF for the Foresters. He made the opening day big league roster out of spring training but then struggled at the plate hitting only 207 before his demotion. Since his demotion where the organization hoped he’d regain confidence and his swing, he has struggled at Cincinnati hitting only 188 in 21 games. His star has really fallen in the last few months but he will be given every opportunity to regain his form.

Key Pitching Prospects

#4 Forester Prospect LHSP Karl Johnson age-22 (not on 40-man roster)
6th Round draft pick in the 1925 draft #94 overall. Johnson appears headed to the rotation late during this current season. Right now, he is pitching well with the Steamers and since his call up to Cincinnati mid-way through last season he is 17-2 with an ERA below 2.85. His strikeouts this year are up, but so are his walks which is a little alarming. He had a shot to make the opening day roster with the Foresters but struggled a bit in the spring games so came back to Cincinnati. He throws a solid fastball (90-92) and likes to nibble on the corners. Cincinnati eventually sees him as a mid-rotation starter.

#9 Forester Prospect LHSP Rick Walther age-22 (not on 40-man roster)
Walther was a minor league signee after he was undrafted following the 1925 draft. He started his career at Class B and really wasn’t distinguishing himself as much more than an upper minor league pitcher potentially. But then something clicked for him in the 1929 season. He was 4-0 at Class A, then was quickly promoted to AA and went 3-0 there and then came up to Cincinnati where he went 8-1 with a 1.94 ERA down the stretch. This season he is 6-1 and his ERA sits at 3.24, but he appears to have a future in Cleveland. His strikeouts and walks like Johnson are both up some from last season. Where these raised numbers are the umpires in the Union League, the hitters or something they are doing remains to be seen. Cincinnati is pegging him as a future #4 starter.

#10 Forester Prospect is LHSP Rube McCormick age-25
The Foresters acquired him in one of GM Martin’s first early trades in June of 1926 from Brooklyn. He has had limited time in Cleveland last season where he went 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA. McCormack is 6-2 with a 3.06 ERA in Cincinnati. His time as a prospect is running out and the hope was that he would already be in the top 3 in the Cleveland rotation by now. He will get a shot this year and then in the spring to nail down a spot. He could also end up in the bullpen but the expectation is his time is very soon.

Other Players to watch
1B Joe Smith B-L age-26 minor league FA signing
No longer a prospect, Smith is still a very intriguing player and one that the Foresters hoped would be on the big-league roster to start the year. He is an excellent hitter and has played a bit of OF to offer some versatility to his game. The intrigue is he has some speed in his game which is something the Foresters don’t have much of. He has stolen 43 bases the last year and a half. If he wasn’t blocked by George Simpson and recently acquired Luke Nixon, he would be up with the big league team Many are speculating that he will be up in July one way or another.

SS Marty Smith B-R age-25
Was acquired in the Rule 5 draft last season in the never-ending search for middle infielders for the Foresters. He didn’t play a lot with the Foresters last year but had to remain on the roster, so this year the thought was to have him play everyday in Cincinnati. He hasn’t responded as well as the Foresters were hoping hitting on 238 so far this season. He has shown surprising power this year though with 17 homers in his 61 games played. The power angle is intriguing but the team wants him to continue to work on his defense. He is preforming fairly well with a RF of 4.41, ZR +2.5 and eff at 1.022. If he could squeeze out a few more base hits and raise his average he might have a shot next spring.

RP Frank Phillips LHRP age-23 (not on 40-man roster)
The recently turned 23-year-old is part of the young group of pitchers that Cleveland hopes will take over next season. Phillips was a 14th round pick in the 28 draft and went from Class C to AAA early last season. He has notched 22 saves in his 87 appearances in Cincinnati since last season.

RP Bill Beier LHRP age-26 (not on 40-man roster)
Beier was a 5th round pick in the 1925 draft and after a bit of a slow start moved to a reliever and seems to have found more footing. Again, his strikeout numbers are up in the strikeout happy Union League but he is 3-1 with 6 saves and a 3.41 ERA. Another pitcher that likely will be called up by September if not sooner.

Final Notes – The speculation is that GM Martin and Forester Owner Marshall want to keep Cincinnati competing at a high level and secure that 4th championship. Since the Foresters are rebuilding this season and not a playoff factor, keeping this winning attitude in Cincinnati seems to be carrying some importance to them both.

Next - Class AA Portland

DD Martin · 03-13-2020, 03:21 PM

Foresters AA Affiliate
Portland Pipers (1929-1930)
Toledo Tornados (1907-1928)

As the FABL re-organized its minor league system in off-season after the 1928 season, the Foresters AA affiliate changed from the Toledo Tornados to the Portland Pipers. Late Forester owner Harold Marshall was against this idea as he liked having his top 3 clubs in the state of Ohio. It made it easy for his staff to review minor league players at AA and AAA and the costs were reduced since the travel was in state. Despite his protests the FABL completed the reorganization after his death in July of 1928. Toledo was moved to become a Class AAA affiliate but was not placed in the Union League for a nature rivalry with the Cincinnati Steamers. Instead they were placed in the Century League.
Portland (RI) was then offered the opening in the Eastern League and placed as the AA affiliate of the Cleveland Foresters. The arrangement seems to be working out okay as the Pipers went 74-66 in their first season (4th place in the Eastern Association) and attracted 285,000. This year the team is currently in first place with a 48-21 record and well on pace to beat the attendance that they set last year. Half-way through the season they have already had 204,000 fans come to the games.

Cleveland AA Affiliate Record in the Martin Years
1926 80-60 5GB 3rd Place (Toledo)
1927 77-63 27GB 4th Place (Toledo)
1928 84-56 ---- League Champion (Toledo)
1929 74-66 20GB 4th Place (Portland)
1930 43-20 ----- Leading the Eastern Association by 3 ½ games
Overall 358-265 .575

This season the Pipers are buoyed by there 28-8 home record as the best mark in the Eastern Association. In 1-run games they are 21-11 so they are winning a lot of close games. The team ERA is 2nd in the league (Starters 3rd, Bullpen 4th) and that seems to be carrying them. The offense is 4th overall in many categories and runs scored 385 but with the best runs against in the EA 289 they have a positive run differential of +96.

Key Batting Prospects

#1 Foresters Prospect LF/3B Ray Cochran B-R Age-24 (not on 40-man roster)
Cochran was a 4th round choice (#57 overall) in the 1927 draft. He started his minor league career at Reading in 1928 and returned to start the 29 season there as well. Power is not his forte, but solid defense and the ability to led off with an high OBP is a key. He was tried as a 3B in the minors after spending most of college at the corner OF. His defensive work at the hot corner left a lot to be desired and it appears that experiment is off. Might be blocked getting to the big leagues by Pidgeon and Perret in the corner spots, but could be a versatile bench bat.

#3 Foresters Prospect 2B Brooks Meeks B-R Age-21 (not on 40-man roster)
A big part of the return in the October 29 trade with Pittsburgh that gave the Miners the #2 overall pick in the 1929 draft. Drafted out of high school by Pittsburgh in 3rd round (41st overall) of the 1927 draft youngster enters AA this year in his debut with the Cleveland Organization. Had a great spring and if he was a little older might have broken camp with the big-league team. Currently he has started to adjust to AA ball playing against older players. After a slow start he has his average up to 263 with Portland. A realistic ETA for his arrival in Cleveland is Opening Day 1932.

Forester Pitching Prospects

#12 Prospect Carl Bragg RHSP Age-22 (not on 40-man roster)
Bragg was drafted in the 9th Rd (#129 overall) in the 1926 draft out of high school. Was considered a project and has slowly worked his way up the ladder. He spent 2 full seasons in Class B Savannah 23-16 ERA 5+ and then went to Class A Reading where he went 12-13 with a 4.21 ERA in 29. This year in Portland he is having his best minor league season at 5-3 with a 3.46 ERA. He will likely work at Portland all year and then give AAA a shot next season. After next season we will have to make a call on if he is ready to be on the 40-man roster.

#13 Prospect RHSP Tom Spradlin Age -25
The tall (6’3) righty was another product of our 1st draft as a 12th rounder in 1926 (#177 overall). We really did find a few late round gems in that draft. He’s been stuck at AA now for his 3rd season but has pitched a bit at AAA Cincinnati in 10 relief innings. He has been blocked a bit by the young talent at AAA but if he gets a break, he will go up there this season. He is probably having his best season as a minor leaguer with an 8-4 record in 24 games (10 starts) as he has been the swing man for the Pipers all season. He might start at Cincinnati or could work the bullpen as he tries to find a roll and a way to Cleveland.

Other Players to Watch

SP/C Al Howell LHP B-L Age 24
Someone we really wanted in the deal that sent Lawrence and Robinson to Detroit last season. He is a 2-way player and we have let him continue with that. Our hope is that he could be a really solid starter and then backup catcher at the big-league level. His bat has cooled off a bit since coming over as he has hit in the 260’s at Portland but he is a solid defensive catcher. He is pitching well at Portland over this year and last with a 13-8 record and 3 saves with a 3.40 ERA. His versatility and solid pitching make him a likely candidate in Cleveland within the next season or two. Look for a callup to Cincinnati as the organization might make room for him and release a veteran catcher.

SP Stan Harrison RHSP Age-26
Drafted in the 1924 draft by GM Martin’s predecessor, Harrison has often been overlooked but has simply deliver wins on the mound. He is in his 3rd season at the AA level having won 42-20 with an ERA below 3.00. He deserves a shot at AAA for the rest of the season.

CF Leon Drake B-R Age 21
Drake doesn’t show on the prospects list because he was a Rule 5 pickup last season and spent the year in Cleveland. He was the #54 prospect in all of baseball prior to losing prospect status. He struggled in limited playing time at Cleveland last year when he was 20 so is playing everyday at Portland. He is hitting 284/390/914 with 10 homeruns and 46 RBI’s and 50 runs scored. He needs to work a bit on his defense as he has allowed a few too many errors this season, but he has a very bright future.

1B Alex Thompson B-R Age 23
The just turned 23-year-old Thompson has struggled to live up to the hype of former Foresters Scouting Director Robert “Dingy” Batson. The last pick of Batson before he was fired by GM Martin during the 1925 draft (#14 overall). The hype was Thompson would develop power which the Foresters desperately crave at 1B has just not happened. His best HR season was last year where he hit 7 between Ottumwa and Savannah. Whether his lack of at-bats in the 27-28 seasons set him back or it was just meant to be. Thompson appears to be a bust as a 1st rounder.

Final Thoughts – We are encouraged mainly by the pitching here in Portland and just the grit and makeup of the team that has won so many close games. Several of the players noted will eventually get a shot in Cleveland and we are still very much intrigued by Al Howell.

Drake and Meeks hopefully makeup a core of our middle defense in years to come. Both are very young and I would like to see get a full season next year in AAA Cincinnati to be sure they are ready. They would both be 23 if they made the Foresters Opening Day roster in 1932.

There are a couple of more pitchers on this team that might make some noise at least in Cincinnati that we didn’t cover here.

DD Martin · 03-13-2020, 03:22 PM

Didn't have room but here are the Eastern Association Standings at the end of June 1930.

Next up - Forester's Last week of June

DD Martin · 03-13-2020, 04:58 PM

The last week of June 1930

The Foresters head into the week with a loss in the first of a 4-games series with the Montreal Saints. Both teams are 33-33 currently tied for 4th place in the CA. After these 3 with the Saints, then we welcome a Baltimore team that has given us fits this year having won 6 of the 9 games played. Getting them here at home and winning the series would really go a long way towards us staying in the upper division this season.

Our attendance is off this year even though we are certainly in a better spot now than when we ended the year last season. We are off 16.4% from last season and while some of it is the economic issues of the time, some of it is we are lacking name recognition players like we had in the past. I believe that our stars like Pidgeon and Perret are over with the fans, and we are starting to see some traction on C Josh Fry and even 3B Jake Moore who looks like he finally has laid claim without question to the job. Two players in the fans eyes that are just a notch below those 4 guys might not be long for the organization. 1B George Simpson and SP Jack Mast are both not likely to be back next year and there is some question if they will be here at the end of this year.

Before the games are played this last week of June, Simpson is hitting 300 on the season but just has 1 homer and only 13 RBI's. Now to be fair he is splitting most of time with Luke Nixon who is hitting 290 with 1-14. So our 1B are hitting around 295 on the season with 2 homers and 27 RBI's. That is just not good enough. I know that the pitching on this team is what is making us a non-contender, but we have some prospects on the way up that will be here soon to hopefully remedy that. The SS and 1B positions have been a revolving door of mediocrity save for Russ Combs hitting (SS), but his fielding was dreadful. We continue to try and address the SS position in the draft, but we have no one near ready to be a big power hitting 1B. Joe Smith and Ron McDougle at Cincinnati are both fine hitters that can also play a bit in the corner OF, but neither are the 20-30 HR guy we want at that position. But both of those guys can hit, and probably hit 330 up here in the big leagues so their time is nearing.

As far as Jack Mast, he is what he has always been since we picked him off waivers. A few bright spots, some solid innings and then the rest are of the serious clunker variety.

Game 67 - Montreal Saints (33-33) 3 vs Cleveland Foresters (33-33) 4
Franklin's clutch Double in 6th sets up Forester Victory

George Barker went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs and pitched a solid game and Jack Gunderson went the last 3 innings and picked up the win. Bobby Allen hit his homer to give the home team the cushion they needed.

WP - Jack Gunderson 3-4 4.20 LP - Charlie Stedman 5-6 4.20
Season Record 34-33

Game 68 - Montreal Saints (33-34) 6 vs Cleveland Foresters (34-33) 7 10 innings.
Allen's bomb wins it in the 10th

After a questionable decision to leave SP Jack Thompson in the game entering the 9th inning, the veteran gave up 2 runs to see the game head into extra's. Manager Hank Leitzke decided to let Thompson ride into the 10 and Bobby Allen saved both Thompson and Leitze a lot of heat with his heroic game ending homer run (5), his 2nd in 2 days against the Saints.

WP - Jack Thompson 7-8 5.15 LP - Gil Kern 0-1 9.00
Season Record 35-33

Game 69 - Montreal Saints (33-35) 2 vs Cleveland Foresters (35-33) 4
Late runs in 7th and 8th support Mast in Forester Win

Today we saw the brilliant Jack Mast on the mound and he pitched a 2-hit and gave up just a home run Lee Griffin for the Saints 2 runs. The Foresters put together enough hits in the 6th (1 run) and 7th (3 runs) to pull out the victory and the series.

WP - Jack Mast 5-1 4.37 LP - Jack Barnet 6-6 6.34
Season Record 36-33

GM Thoughts - Just when I think Jack Mast is done he throws another gem. If he could just find some consistency he could be a solid mid-rotation guy year in and year out. We are just a game behind the Cannons who are coming to town and 2 behind the 2nd place Cougars. It's hard to think about, but if we were to win or even sweep this series we would be likely in 2nd place. The odds are long though as I really think Baltimore if they can ever put it all together for a solid stretch would rise up the rankings and might give the Sailors a few fits before the end of the season.

Game 70 - Baltimore Cannons (37-32) 10 vs Cleveland Foresters (36-33) 14
Typical Slugfest between Cannons and Foresters see's Cleveland come out on top and move into a 3rd place tie.

The fans saw an exciting game as both SP gave up 9 earned runs, but errors on both sides helped the cause. Gray only gave up 5 earned runs while Ham gave up 4 for Baltimore. Lou Kelly who loves to hit homers against the Foresters did so again (17th on the season and seems like half are against us), but hot hitting Bobby Allen hit his 6th of the year for Cleveland. SS Jim Payne made 2 errors (20 on the season) but tried to make up for it with his 1st homerun of the year.

WP - Eddie Gray 7-5 6.14 LP Buzz Ham 5-2 2.70
Season Record 37-33

Game 71 - Baltimore Cannons (37-33) 7 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-33) 5 10 innings
Cannons score 2 in the 10th aided by an error by Erv Smith

Once again an untimely error opened the flood gates for the opposition and cost the Foresters a win. RP Jack Gunderson was the tough luck loser in this one that once again dropped the Foresters out of a tied for 3rd.

WP - Paul Reed 2-6 5.93 LP - Jack Gunderson 3-5 4.11 S - Lee Douillard 7 4.15
Season Record 37-34

Game 72 - Baltimore Cannons (38-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-34) 1
Carpenter Shuts Down Foresters in Rout!

There is a reason why SP Ken Carpenter has been a stalwart for the Cannons even in the lean times. He is just that good and today he was lights out. Carp needed just 104 pitches and gave up just 3 hits in the 1 run outing. Jack Thompson took the loss for the home side giving up 6 runs in 6 innings and rookie Felix Dent had his first rough outing in a spell giving up 5 runs.

WP - Ken Carpenter 11-6 3.15 LP Jack Thompson 7-9 5.32
Season Record 37-35

Game 73 - Baltimore Cannons (39-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-35) 6
Kelly does it again, hits for cycle as Cannons race out of town with series Win.

Cleveland pitchers are going to have nightmares about Lou Kelly for years as the 4-5 and hit for the cycle today. 5 RBI's and 4 runs scored gives Kelly as season long line of 330 with 18 HR's and 75 RBI's. Cleveland Manager Hank Leitzke was quoted as saying "thank god Kelly is leaving town, he is a wrecking crew."

WP - Bob Miller 9-8 4.85 LP - Jack Mast 5-2 4.74
Season Record 37-36

GM Thoughts - Sigh, I really did try several times to get Kelly to play 1B for us. I can dream about what I could have offered to get him in Forester Green. And the Jack Mast story continues, brilliant to dud in days. Can't blame him though this pitching staff was put together to get us through a season and I knew it would be painful at times. So we go from a quick tie with the Cannons for 3rd to 3 games behind them, so we are back in 4th and just ahead of the Saints by a game. Tomorrow we end the month, hopefully it will be a good finish. The Stars are coming to town and it would be just our luck if they finally started playing like the team many of us thought they were.

DD Martin · 03-13-2020, 05:59 PM

June 30th Daily

Foresters end month with Win
By Ronald William Apter

Yes indeed the Foresters ended the month with a resounding 12-3 thrashing of the New York Stars to end the month at 38-36, firmly entrenched in 4th place. At the beginning of the season I didn't think this team would win its 38th game until the end of August and here we are the end of June. I can admit when I am wrong, the Foresters aren't terrible, they are just mediocre once again. Not good enough to finish in a tight race, not bad enough to get a top pick. It is a perplexing situation to be just this average.

But today they were not average. They combined solid defense (only 1 error), with solid pitching (Barker gives up just 4 hits and 2 earned runs), and a lot of offense (Allen misses cycle by a homerun) in getting 15 hits and 20 total baserunners. The solid outing by Barker was just what the Foresters needed to see from the right-hander. He started the year fast, then slumped in May and now is back to pitching, well average overall at 6-6 4.41 ERA.

The Foresters benefited from getting a game with one of the worst starting pitchers in all of baseball, Star Slug-o Skinny Foster. How this guy is still in the big leagues this year is uttering amazing in itself. Hopefully Cleveland will see him again later this year.

Overall I give the Foresters a well deserved C for their first half of the season. Now will they continue this way or will they collapse like last season. Only time will tell, but for now Cleveland fans, enjoy the so-so ness of your team, for however long they are "your team".

WP - George Barker 6-6 4.41 LP - Skinny Foster 3-11 6.68

GM Thoughts - Well as you can see "Angry" Ron is back and while his seemingly "softer" report for the Foresters was a surprise, he still appears to not be able to write a story without ripping someone. This poor guy Foster has had a rough season, but he didn't deserve that. I will have to apologize to the Stars GM for the printed words from our reporter with an attitude. Why he has that attitude I don't know, but now I am determined to find out.

It was nice to end the month of June with a win, it gave us a winning month at 15-13, and kept us in the first division of the CA in 4th. Below is the month ending baseball report from Michael J. Kiely of the Cincinnati Tribune.

Michael J. Kiely
Cincinnati Tribune
Baseball Month-Wrap

The Foresters ended the month with a huge win over the New York Stars by a score of 12-3. With the victory your hometown hero's appear to be going in the right direction. The pitching is still very spotty and is something that has to be improved for the team to rise in the rankings anytime soon.

The offense for the Foresters is 3rd in runs scored in the CA and leads the league in home runs and extra base hits and slugging %. The pitching still leaves you just begging for some help.

The team ErA stands at 5.23 (6th best in the league) and while it is hard to imagine 2 teams with worse overall pitching, there are apparently. The Starters are 6th in ERA at 5.37 and the bullpen is a better than most 3rd at 4.75. It really does show the state of pitching this year in the CA though. Some are saying there is something different in the ball, but this stat tells me that it isn't that. The Foresters are last at issuing walks in the CA with 269. Free passes can kill a pitching staff.

The Foresters were hoping to improve defensively from last season. Unfortunately it hasn't materialize on the field as the team is 6th in Def Eff at .658 and 6th in zone rating with a negative -0.7

Here are the monthly awards for the Foresters

Batter of the month - Most would probably pick RF Moxie Pidgeon who put up really good numbers in June hitting 358/410/1002 with 7 homers and 28 RBI's. I'm going to go with the unsung 2B though Bob Baker who has re-taken the hold of the keystone position with a June batting line of 333/385/890 8DB's 4TP's and 1 HR along with 24 RBI's.

Other strong hitters of the month were C Josh Fry 357 1-14, 3B Jake Moore 357 4-20, CF Bobby Allen 328 3-20 and of course LF Joe Perret 378 2-11. Perret's power numbers were down this month but he did miss about 10 days from late May through the first week of June.

Pitcher of the Month - Some would say can you find anyone to give it too? Well in a close race I'm going with SP George Barker who was 2-2 with a team leading 3.68 ERA for June. A nice bounce back after a rough May.

Rookie of the Month - SS Erv Smith had a solid month hitting 322 with a homer and 14 RBI's

Now here are the league wide awards

CA Player of the Month - No surprise here with the way he terrorized the Foresters. Its Baltimore Cannons RF Lou Kelly who smash 10 home runs and drove in a mind boggling 43 runs in June while batting 358. Just an amazing month for Kelly.

CA Pitcher of the Month - Also a Baltimore Cannon as SP Ken Carpenter gets the nod going 6-1 with a 2.38 ERA. On the season 11-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 151.2 innings. Looks like a 300 inning season for one the Cannon's aces.

CA Rookie of the Month - Chicago Cougar RF Vince York wins the rookie of the month honors on the strength of his hitting 413 with 6 homeruns and 33 RBI's. In most months that would win Player of the Month.

Over in the Fed

FA Player of the Month - Eagles C TR Goins hit 378 with 13 homers and 34 RBI's.

FA Pitcher of the Month - Boston Minutemen SP Wilbur Laramee went 6-0 with a 3.33 ERA in 6 starts.

FA Rookie of the Month - St. Louis rookie RF Alex Ingraham. the 24-year-old was drafted out of Coastal California just last December in the 1929 draft. He hit 340 with 6 homers and 27 RBI's for the Pioneers who took the youngster in the 2nd round.

GM Thoughts - Well we sit at 38-36 at the end of June. I really think Hank Leitzke should get some consideration for Manager of the Year. This team was mostly an afterthought by many, pegged anywhere from what some would say was an unrealistic 5th, all the way to record setting worst winning percentage in franchise history. With the record we are actually sitting in 4th place at the moment 11.5 games behind the Sailors and 3 games out of 2nd. Never thought that would happen and honestly, I really thought the Sailors would be running away and hiding by at least 12 games over everybody. They still might and the race isn't really that close, but for Chicago and Baltimore fans that have seen some lean years the last several, the thought of a race has to make them happy.

For us, we would like to start making some decisions on players and moving forward with the future. Its great having an almost 500 record, but part of me really wants to see some of these youngsters now and get their feet wet, no matter what happens to the wins and losses. We will see where we go the next week as we will pass the half-way point in the season.

DD Martin · 04-30-2020, 02:23 PM

Contrary to popular beliefs, the Cleveland Foresters are not dead. Just the finish of the 1930 season was for the team.

The Foresters are going to return for the 1931 season and the draft is getting under way. Did we get our top prospect on our board at #4, stay tuned to find out.

DD Martin · 05-03-2020, 06:23 PM

1930 Season Continental Association Wrap-Up

When we last checked in, the Philadelphia Sailors were comfortably in the lead. I will say that the Sailors did in fact win the division title once again, but it was anything but comfortably. Cracks began to show some vulnerability in the Sailors and the young guns of the CA were ready to step up and give them a run for their money. The Baltimore Cannons and the surprising Montreal Saints both finished with 86-68, just 2 games behind the Sailors 88-66. The Chicago Cougars continued their impressive rebuild as well and closed with a record of 84-70, just 4 games out of 4th. After that we have the New York Stars who were staggering around 500 all season. I was really surprised the Stars weren't able to put together a run to get them in the upper division, but they did finish with an over 500 record at 78-76.

After those 5 teams things really dropped off, although the Brooklyn Kings and their horde of youngsters were showing signs of coming of age and finished 6th at 75-79.

6 teams mentioned in the CA and we have not gotten to our beloved Foresters. Shades of last season without the major trades in July, the Foresters 2nd half of the season again was terrible. At one point the team was 45-42 and in the top half of the division and then came the (2nd half of) July swoon the dog days of August and the September to forget. The Foresters limped to the 2nd worst record in all of baseball from that point going 24-43. Only the Toronto Wolves were worse down the stretch (18-50). So we hung on to 7th place at 69-85. Even though it was not a record to write home about, the showing gave the Foresters a plus 5 games in the win column over their previous season (64-90).

Will the Foresters climb back to 70 wins in 1931? Stay tuned.

Final CA Standings

DD Martin · 05-03-2020, 06:48 PM

The Fed League Standings and the World Series

The Fed League and World Series

At the end of June the FA was all about the Philadelphia Keystones and the defending World Champion Detroit Dynamos. 2 1/2 games separated the two as they were in their mind running away with the division race.

But a funny thing happened on the way to a 2-team race.....the New York Gotham's got hot and I mean really hot. The Gotham's who were an afterthought like much of the rest of the league went 27-5 in July and by the end of the month had erased the 9 game deficit they had at the end of June. In fact the Gotham's led the FA by a game over the Keys and suddenly it was the Dynamos on the outside looking in at 6 back.

While the Gotham's didn't .850 ball the rest of August and September, they go 32-17 and win the division comfortably by 6 games of the Keystones and 15 games over the Dynamos. The defending champion Dynamo's only had 1 winning month after Memorial Day (16-12 August) but were a combined 53-56 after May 31st.

The Boston Minutemen finished in 4th place a exactly 500 (77-77) and Chicago Chiefs faltered to a 5th place 70-84 finish. Pittsburgh who last won the FA in 1924 continued its string of non-winning seasons (they did finish 500 1 year) since with a lackluster 67-87 record. Then came a bit of a surprise, the Washington Eagles team who looked like they might be finally putting together a solid competitive team just fell apart and went 64-90. Few saw that coming.

Last but not least as the GM carousal continued to spin there, the last place St. Louis Pioneers slipped again to just 62 wins. Fortunately the GM job there appears to be in good hands now, but can they turn it around after all this futility? Look for them to try and part with some of the strong veterans they have and build toward the future.

World Series

Philadelphia Sailors 88-66 vs New York Gotham's 98-56
On paper based on record, the Gotham's appeared to have the momentum and the stronger record. But was the record maybe a mirage because the FA was down overall? This is the Sailors 3rd straight World Series appearance having won the 28 Series against the Chicago Chiefs in 5 games. Then coming back but running into the Detroit Dynamo Express in the 29 Series and losing in 7 games. Would this series be another 7 game thriller?

In short, yes. After splitting the first 6 games, the Sailors locked down their 2nd World Series title in 3 years by winning game 7 by a final score of 4-3. Sailors CF David Merchant won the World Series MVP honors with a 483 average while hitting 2 homeruns and driving in 6 runs.

DD Martin · 05-03-2020, 07:14 PM

1930 Season Wrap - Cleveland Foresters

After another disappointing, but not unexpected, season. Where do the Forester's go from here? There was a growing discontentment among the fans and the frustration was mounting. Why? Well because Cleveland's AAA farm team the Cincinnati Steamers had rolled their way to a 4th straight Union League Championship going 100-40 in the 1930 season. The Cincinnati Mayor and fans were clamoring for a big league team, and even poked fun at the futility of the Forester's woes on the field. This intensified the rivalry between the two Ohio cities.

But there was a question that needed to be answered. Why has Cincinnati been so dominate in the Union League, but then it can't translate to the big league field? That is a question that is haunting Cleveland GM Martin constantly. At the end of the day, it really comes down to pitching. Players in the Cleveland organization tend to do well in the minor leagues but then when they come up to Cleveland they struggle. Why is that? Is it that the organization just has a bunch of AAAA players in it that dominate in the minors but simply aren't good enough in the big leagues? Or is it pitching coach Dave Noyes and his approach?

After the season ended, either that question has been answered in Cleveland or the front office just needed a scapegoat. Pitching Coach Dave Noyes was fired. In his place, the Foresters promoted the Steamer's pitching coach (since 1926) with hiring 48 year-old Mark O'Rourke to take the reigns.

Longtime hitting coach Kasey Dardar retired from coaching at the end of the season as well. In his place again the Forester's promoted from within tabbing the Steamer's hitting coach, Bill Marshall (52) who was with Cincinnati last season and AA Portland the season before.

Both coaches are well regarded and Manager Hank Lietzke seems pleased to have them both on the major league staff for next season.

The Front Office and coaching staff have a lot of things they need to address this off-season including filling out the minor league staffs and evaluating who will be going to Spring Training. They also have the draft to look forward to as well and then the Rule 5 Draft that Cleveland is always active in.

Many rosters decisions will have to be made and several were made right after the end of the season. 1B George Simpson and SP Jack Mast were both DFA. Simpson was selected by Philadelphia on waivers while Mast elected free agency after having not been claimed. The veterans were released because of 40-man roster limits in the case of Mast who was out of options. Simpson was let go after 2 seasons with last year's platoon with 1B Luke Nixon had disastrous results (2 homeruns and less than 35 RBI's between them). Whether this means Nixon will get the job fulltime next season, well I am not too sure about that but we shall see.

Here are the team final numbers for 1930 - and the attendance woes at the bottom tell another story that needs to be addressed.

DD Martin · 05-04-2020, 03:04 PM

The Draft is here

Quick review of last seasons 1st round picks

Its a time that everyone looks forward too, especially those teams trying to improve themselves. Hitting a home run in the draft is essential to building up a league doormat. The Foresters find themselves picking again in the top 5. Last year they had the #3 overall pick but made a trade to #2 and then dropped to #8. At the #8 pick they took then 21-year-old CF Amos LeBlanc out of George Fox College. LeBlanc played primarily in Class A Reading, but also was called up to AA Portland late in the season. He hit 321 combined between the 2 teams and the thought is he might begin the season in AAA Cincinnati, but that depends on who makes the Forester's opening day roster. Center Field was considered a strength by the Cleveland front office, but the disappointing play of Frank Moseley who struggled at not only the major league level but also AAA and ultimately wound up in AA Portland. The Forester's are high though on 23-yea-old CF Leo Clark and if he makes the opening day roster then you will likely see LeBlanc in Cincinnati.

The Foresters also had another first round pick last season. With the #16 pick last year they took SP Ben Bernard who was out of Mobile High School. Being only 18 at the time, he was sent to Class C Ottumwa and was injured in early May missing 2 months of the season. He ended up 3-6 with a 3.94 ERA so depending how his off-season workouts and spring go, he might return to start the season at Ottumwa or he might get the call up to Class B Savannah. I know the Forester brass are hoping that he can have a solid year at Class B and then as a 20-year-old next season maybe be ready for Class A-ball.

This Year's Draft
The Foresters with the #4 pick in the draft had made no moves in the off-season as far as trades went. They did sneak a free agent signing in, when LF Skeeter Gibson, based on age snuck through without going into the draft.

The draft board for this year had a couple of names at the top of the list. Cleveland was hoping that somehow one of those names would fall to them. They figured if they had a shot at someone it would have been the second name on the list. C Jack Flint, a 21-year-old catcher out of Lubbock State had a lot they liked in a catcher. Flint though was quickly taken with the #1 overall pick by the St. Louis Pioneers. Our hopes were pretty faint that our overall choice would fall to us.

But then Toronto was on the clock but in deep need of pitching (aren't we all), they chose with the 2nd pick P Jim Harris. Then it was Washington's turn. Still feeling disappointed that we couldn't get a deal done with TR Goins with the Eagles front office, I really hoped they didn't get me again with taking my guy. They did take my #3 choice on the board though, with SS Jim Beard.

That pick meant it was our turn on the clock. I turned to AGM Ollie Moses and Director of Scouting Dave White and asked them both, "Did he really fall to us?" They both nodded so we quickly before anyone could change their mind sent in our pick to the league office.

With the 4th pick in the 1930 FABL amateur draft, the Cleveland Foresters select 3B/1B Johnny Turner from George Fox College. For the 2nd straight season we had selected a player from GF and we were delighted that our #1 on our board was coming to town.

Turner (Jr) (age 21) appears to be the type of player that could quickly progress through our minor league system. While he doesn't have tremendous power, he does have a great ability to put the ball wherever he wants to put it. He uses all parts of the field and with his surprising plus speed could turn into a doubles machine. He is an above average fielder at 3rd but his quickest path to the big leagues might be over at 1st base where the Forester's have never really found anyone to play for many years.

In his junior year in college he hit 384 (440 OP%) with 8 homers and 57 RBI's. He only stole 5 bases in his career and depending on what we want to do with him, I believe we could coach him to becoming a solid 15+SB guy. We will likely target him to either start in Class A Reading or Class AA Portland depending on how the spring goes.

(ooc: Besides his speed, he reminds me of a young Wade Boggs in the future).

DD Martin · 05-04-2020, 03:29 PM

Draft Continues Rounds 2 and 3

We felt really lucky with our first round pick in Johnny Turner. Now we turned our attention to the next several rounds. As our pick drew near we had a hand full of players in our top 16 still on the board. Since we had taken another position player with our top pick we were really looking hard at pitching. The weakness in our organization is quality pitching and has been for years. We have had a few hits over the years but we need a whole lot more. So as our turn came up, it came down to two players.

One player that we thought might be available for us was SP Chuck Murphy but he was gobbled up at #12 by the Montreal Saints. We had Murphy rated higher than I believe most did (and if Turner, Flint and Beard were all taken ahead of us we might have grabbed him at #4, although that would have been a big stretch most likely). We also liked a lot SP Donnie Scheuermann (#11), and outfields Rip Curry (#13) and Al Horton (#14).

So we did have a couple of pitchers rated ahead on our board, but they had been taken. The guy we ended up taking with our 2nd round choice (#20 overall) was the #10 overall choice on our draft board. We went and grabbed a high school senior from San Antonio High School who had committed to the College of San Diego. SP Mel Ennis was our choice and while he is young, he has a lot of upside to develop. Ennis is a left-hander who hits with a 91 mph sinker, and also has a slider and a change. He is going to have to work on all of his pitches, but we believe he will be the #1 SP at Ottumwa this season.

As the 3rd round came up we still had 1 player left in our top 16 (1st round assessments) on the board. He was another higher schooler and was out of Seattle, Washington (although he attended Wilkes-Barre high school) and was also committed to the College of San Diego. With the 4th pick in the 3rd Round (#36 overall) the Cleveland Foresters select SP Ike Joyal. The biggest knock on Joyal is his control which we will have to see improvement on. That said a 4-pitch arsenal with a nasty Forkball that he can use to entice weak swings with. He will also open at Ottumwa as we do not want to put either of these young kids up into Class B until they show they can handle C-Ball.

Both guys had lesser years in their senior high school seasons than in their sophomore or junior seasons. We just think they have both got a huge upside and it will be our job to bring that out of them.

The big issue now will be getting these guys signed. Ennis and Joyal were really looking forward to the California coast and playing in San Diego. Joyal might be especially hard to sign, but we are determined to get it done.

DD Martin · 05-22-2020, 03:49 PM

Forester Off-Season Continues

The off-season continued in Cleveland and it was a dark snowy sort of time. The team was not viewed to be a contending group primarily because of its pitching staff. Changes were made at the coaching position early in the off-season with hopes that it will translate on the field. Still it was a fairly quiet time for the Forester's

The Rule 5 draft came and went. It was fairly quiet but we did pick up a couple of pitchers to take a flyer on. Right now it is basically about trying to find that diamond in the rough. So we took a chance on two.

LHP Tom Goldsborough went 14-14 with a 4.53 at AA Atlanta in the Washington organization. Nothing spectacular but he does have 5 pitches in his arsenal, but our scout feels that unless he can control is walks, he will likely not be on the major league team next season. At age 27, one of the older rule 5 players we have taken, it really is a make good audition for him. If he doesn't pan out he will likely be offered back to Washington.

LHP Jim Morales was also taken in the rule 5 draft. He is 26 years old and has 4 solid pitches. Unlike Goldsborough, Morales has excellent command, but at best is though of as a reliever. Which isn't a bad thing, as we need quality relievers too. Morales was also taken from the sleeping Washington franchise.

On the down side of the rule 5 is when you lose a player that you once had high hopes for. Unfortunately we thought that nobody would want to take a chance on him because of his injury. Yes we had another starting pitcher go down last year and he was promising. He had just turned 23 and since he is out realistically until August, if everything breaks right in his rehab, we thought he would go unnoticed. Who am I talking about?

SP Rick Walther who ruptured his UCL on the 4th of July in a start with Cincinnati. While young he had pitched roughly a full season at Cincinnati and was the stablemate of our other SP Karl Johnson . Over the course of the 2nd half of 29 and 1st half of 1930 season's Walther was 14-2 with a 2.33 ERA in 29 starts. He was not greeted well in spring training last year by opposing hitters, but seemed to be figuring it out pretty well. Losing him was a real blunder on my part (essentially I forgot he was unprotected on the DL) but is a big pick up for St. Louis who desperately needs all the help they can get.

The other player lost was once a member of the big league club in C Jake Stanley age 28. Jake was our #3 catcher in the organization and is a hugely successful clubhouse leader. He will make a great backup catcher for the NY Stars. He showed surprising power last year in AAA Cincinnati with 15 home runs, but we felt that was more a mirage than something that would continue on, especially in the big leagues. That is probably locker room bulletin board material for Jake, but we wish him good luck. He was a very solid professional.

A big trade and unhappy fans
Looking around our team and trying to figure out what if anything we could do to add to our team for the future, we decided to shop around a player who I never really thought I would trade, LF Joe Perret. Joe will turn 29 during the season and while he has been very good, injuries have been an issue. The last 2 seasons his end of the season had been derailed both times by different ailments. Maybe the rigors of the OF were showing up. Joe wasn't a great fielder but with his bat go away with some rough innings in LF. He wasn't horrible, but he was far from average as well. His age and the fact that we had Moxie Pidgeon and Mike Williams able to man the corner OF spots made it easier.

If we had kept Perret we would have ended up trying an experiment between Pidgeon, Williams, Bobby Allen, Perret and whoever emerges as a top candidate for CF. With Brown and Perret splitting time at 1st base and then sharing some time in the OF, we would have targeted around 125 games for each player in that 5 player mix. Perret had only 1 regular season game at 1B last year but did get some time in the spring as we were looking to see if he could handle 1st better. In the end we had talks with several teams, primarily the NY Gothams and Chicago Cougars who are both front runners for their league titles.

In the end we choose New York's deal as it was involving more young prospects than what Chicago was willing to deal.

LHSP Dean Astle (age 21) who currently sits at our #8 prospect (#72 overall) in our organization. Astle fits the needs of a future SP likely a couple of seasons down the line. Astle mixes 3 pitches and is searching for a 2nd swing and miss pitch that will likely elevate his effectiveness. He tends to induce a large amount of groundballs and needs a solid defense behind him. He will start the year in Class A Reading, which he honestly isn't thrilled about but will likely earn a quick promotion to AA Portland by the end of May if all goes well. We'd like to get him about 20 AA starts this season and then when we go to spring see if he is ready for AAA after viewing him with the big league club. We feel the future is bright for Dean.

2B John Turner (age 23) ranks as our #4 prospect (#60 overall) and was given a long look in spring training to break camp with the big league club. He spent the 1930 season with the Gotham's AAA Toledo club where he hit 299/394/811 and profiles as an excellent defender and something that Cleveland really hasn't had.....a lead-off hitter. He will start in AAA Cincinnati as the Foresters have several solid 2B (Bob Baker and Russ Franklin) on the big league club, but look for him to come up during the 2nd half of the season either through injury or player movement. The Foresters also have young 21 year-old 2B Brooks Meeks that they are very high on as well.

The final player in the trade was 23-year-old RHSP Ben Turner who is ranked 12th (#114 overall) in the Forester's system. Turner has pitched in parts of the last 2 seasons in AA and will start there this season with Portland. Much like Astle, the Forester's would like to move Turner up to AAA by early June and see how he does there. Ideally Turner would be ready for opening day next season in the Forester's rotation.

So we traded one of the most popular players of the last half decade, who hit over 350 with 60 HR and almost 300 RBI's in the last 4 seasons for no one that would help this year's club. But again we were looking to the future, but the fans want a winner now. I understand the frustration of the fans, but hopefully they will give these guys a chance to mature and if all goes well we could see all 3 in Forester Green within the next 2-3 seasons.

Spring Training is up next

DD Martin · 05-22-2020, 04:19 PM

Spring Training 1931 - looks like another long year

We head to spring training this year hoping to sort out the 23-man roster. Yes there are some locks on the roster to be sure, here's what we know going into spring.

LF Moxie Pidgeon (24) moves over to his more natural position of LF with Joe Perret being traded. Pidgeon has excelled with the bat as a surprise 12th round pick in the 1925 draft. In his 2 full seasons he has hit 352 with 53 home runs and 232 RBI's. Pidgeon hit 446 with 6 home runs during spring training.

RF Mike Williams (25) burst onto the scene following Perret's injury last season and in slightly less than half a season fashioned a respectable 273 average with 12 homers and 47 RBI's. This was after swatting 33 HR's in half a season at AAA Cincinnati. He struggled some in the spring, but he is locked into RF to start the season.

3B Jake Moore (28) who we thought about trading over the last 3 seasons emerged last year as a solid 3.9 WAR player. Good glove has always been his calling card, but his bat finally exploded for 18 home runs and 98 RBI's with a 298 average.

CF/1B Bobby Allen (26) What we know is that Allen's bat will be in the lineup everyday, somewhere. What we don't know yet is will it be primarily at 1B where he had some time down the stretch last season and preformed well or in CF. If the Foresters can find a quality CF who can defend well and hit for 300, then Allen wins the 1B job. His power bat would the be answer for Cleveland at 1B.

C Josh Fry (28) Less of a lock but doesn't really have any challengers for the job. Fry is a solid catcher defensively who handles pitchers well and can hit around 300. Not a power guy. but is very likable to the fans and his teammates.

The rest of the position player jobs are up for grabs during the spring. 2B, SS, 1B/CF. Backup roles are also available to be had.

Spring Training Pitching
What we know about the pitching staff heading in. Very little honestly, as there are no virtual locks on the team, but there are a couple of guys who would have to really struggle to not make it.

LHSP Karl Johnson (23) really struggled after he came up late to Cleveland last season going 1-4 with an ERA over 7. He was 22-3 with a 2.91 ERA over parts of the last 2 seasons with AAA Cincinnati. It is time to see if the former 6th round pick (1925) out of high school and continue to show promise. He would have to be a dumpster fire during spring to not make the opening day roster.

RHSP Eddie Gray (25) has gone a rather unimpressive 13-16 with a 5.42 ERA in the 1929-30 seasons. The Foresters still hope he can show some improvement and become the solid #2-3 starter than imagined.

And that is it, no one else is scene as probable to make the pitching staff which means it will be a very open competition.

Looking to earn the other 3 SP jobs will be last year's rule 5 pick RHSP Felix Dent (24), RHSP George Barker (29) who had a solid half season in 1929 and a so-so 1930 season. Barker is also the elder statesman on this team.

A couple of rookies RHSP Stan Harrison (27) and LHSP Roger Perry (23)(Perry was acquired in the minor league rule 5) will also be given a shot.

A youngster from the 1929 draft in 9th round pick RHSP Carl Bragg (22) will also be given a shot.

The bullpen will probably be patched together from those that don't make the rotation and a few holdovers like Jake Gunderson, and Eddie Smith. Also keep your eye on LHRP Bill Beier (26) as the sleeper for the stopper role.

Spring Training should be exciting with a lot of jobs on the line, and the hope for Cleveland fans that new pitching coach Mark O'Rouke can turn this hodge podge of a mess into something

DD Martin · 09-18-2020, 04:56 PM

And 1931 was a long season

The Foresters slogged their way through a season that was as bad as advertised. GM Martin knew it would be a rough year but was hoping that some of the pieces that the organization has been slowly putting together would finally start to pay off, but that was in the future. For their efforts in the 1931 season, the Forester's would have the #1 pick in the draft. The early odds were that the pick would either be another one of the legendary Barrell family, this time it was SS Harry Barrell, or it would be a polished hitting 2B Freddie Jones out of Central Ohio University. These 2 players were certain to go #1 and #2, it just wasn't know what order that would be.

On the season
The Forester's went a pathetic (even for them) 60-94 finishing dead last in the Continental League a whopping 31 games behind the Chicago Cougars (pausing for a moment to remember how bad the Cougs were for most of the latter half of the 20's. Hopefully we can get to where they are in a few seasons).

On the offensive side of the ball 3B Jake Moore continued to have a steady career putting up solid if unspectacular batting line of 293/358/798 with 9 HR's and 88 RBI's and a WAR of 4.6 and wRC+ 124. OF Moxie Pidgeon led the team in HR's with 23 but had his worst season as a pro hitting just 269. CF Bobby Allen's (Allen was a waiver pick up that has hitting really well for us. He is a bit error prone in CF, but has adjusted to be a steady LF) search for a position seems to have landed him in LF for next year, which will mean moving Moxie to either RF or 1B. Unfortunately while Pidgeon has been a great hitter in most seasons, he can't play in the field very well. The team has tried him at LF, RF and 1B so right now it likely will be 1B unless the team finds someone who can actually be a power bat there.

Yes the woes at 1B continued and we discovered that Joe Smith was not the answer to the question. Next up will be Luke Nixon who we acquired from Chicago a year ago.

On the Mound
There were some bright spots for youngsters on the mound, but you have to look really hard for them. The plan was for this season 31 and the 1932 season to continue to bring up the young kids that we had been drafting and see if they can jell into a solid starting staff. SP Karl Johnson (23) was given the biggest opportunity and turned in a 9-16 season with a 4.47 ERA. While he will never be considered an "ace" of a staff, we believe he is solid #3/#4 SP in a good rotation.

SP's Carl Bragg (4-5 4.32 ERA), Roger Perry (3-4 4.33 ERA), Ben Turner (2-0 1.06) and Al Howell (3-12 4.76) are good shots to at least get a few starts in. These guys along with SP Ed Wood and current class A pitcher Dean Astle all figure to be a part of the future in Cleveland.

The funny thing about the left-handed hitting Howell, he might be a better C than a pitcher. He likely will be a 2-way player next season and has been penciled in as the backup catcher. Can he handle both? Or will the team move him to the bullpen? It probably will be determined by his catching ability.

Below are the season stats for the Foresters along with the 1931 standings for both the CA and FA leagues.

Congrats BTW to the Chicago Cougars who beat the New York Gothams in 6 games to win the FABL World Series 4-2. For the Cougars it was the 5th World Series Championship in club history (Something that Cleveland hasn't managed to do in it's 40+ year history).

Author Note - After a long absence my schedule will allow me to continue with the Forester story and the team is still just a mediocre as ever)

ayaghmour2 · 09-18-2020, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DD Martin

Author Note - After a long absence my schedule will allow me to continue with the Forester story and the team is still just a mediocre as ever)

Cleveland looks exciting for 1933. Selfishly, I hope they'll be mediocre, but I definitely can see them making some serious noise this year.

DD Martin · 09-18-2020, 11:03 PM

1932 Draft and Off-season

Draft Day - December 1931

We sent our pick by telegraph to the league office. A lot of happy smiles in our office as we took what we think is by far the #1 choice in this draft. The league office then confirmed the pick and it was announced to the league that the Cleveland Foresters selected SS Harry Barrell out of Atlanta High School. We quickly got the contract signed (Bonus $12,000) and he would report to our spring complex in March.

GM DD Martin - Obviously we are extremely happy to welcome Harry Barrell to the Forester Family. We feel that with a couple of seasons in the minors he will be manning the SS position for us for a number of years to come. I can't envision him playing for anyone else.

The following players were taken in the first 5 Rounds
1-1 SS Harry Barrell (age 18) Atlanta HS $12,000
2-1 C Ed Smith (18) Niagara Falls HS $7,000
3-1 RF Bill Butterfield (21) Garden State University $950
4-1 P Roger Buscher (21) Lubbock State University $900
5-1 RF Les Shearer (21) Lubbock State $650

Overall the Foresters seemed to be pleased with the class and the organization. Harry Barrell was immediately our #1 prospect and was #2 overall in the league. He would begin his career at Class B Savannah and will likely spend a couple of months there and then move up to Class A Reading.

DD Martin · 09-19-2020, 06:50 PM

1932 - A season of Improvement?

Author note - As I continue to catch up the story we will quickly look at the early season of 1932. Current the league is in the off-season just prior to spring training of 1933. This will probably be a quick 3-4 post recap of the season and the 2 major decisions that the Foresters make.

As we head into the spring training in 1932 we had no visions of being able to go from worst to first. In fact our goal was to show improvement of course but we wouldn't be disappointed if we got another top end draft pick. While I won't call it tanking because we were in a definite building mode. I can't call it rebuilding, since you have to have accomplished something to rebuild it.

We made the decision early that we would bring up our young SP from the start of the season. Our rotation would like this to open the season.

SP Karl Johnson (24) 9-16 4.47 ERA 30 starts 1932
SP Roger Perry (24) 3-4 4.33 ERA 7 starts 1932
SP Ben Turner (24) 2-0 1.06 ERA 2 starts 1932 (AAA 8-2 2.55 ERA 14GS)
SP Carl Bragg (23) 4-5 4.32 ERA 18 starts 1932

In the #5 spot we decided to go with George Barker (31) who had in Cleveland in 1930-1931 going 17-25 4.68 ERA in 60 starts. We had thought about maybe going with SP/C Al Howell, but his hitting and catching had caught our eye so much that we decided to let him be primarily a position player. Also we consider SP Ed Wood (23) for the spot but wanted to give him a few innings at AAA Cincinnati since he had only been as high as AA Portland in the prior season.

In going with such a young rotation we decided it was time to see what we really had. Worst thing that could happen was that they wouldn't be ready and we would have a top 4 draft pick. I had my eye on two players in particular, especially Henry Hudson University SP Curly Jones. He was on the top of our draft board even at that time 10 months before the next amateur draft.

With the position players, here was our opening day lineup and their 1931 stats.

CF Jake Matheson 246/341/989 65-140 (AAA GWL Seattle)
1B Luke Nixon 420/500/1.100 1-5 50 AB (Cleveland)
RF Moxie Pidgeon 269/340/786 23-92 (Cleveland)
LF Bobby Allen 276/336/786 16-69 (Cleveland)
3B Jake Moore 293/358/798 9-88 (Cleveland)
SS Erv Smith 260/316/654 1-40 (Cleveland)
2B Brooks Meeks 273/333/733 1-9 55AB (Cleveland)
C Al Howell 200/269/587 0-3 85AB (Cleveland)

As you can see many of the same characters that had been around, but there were a few new additions. CF Jake Matheson was a minor league trade we worked out with Seattle. He launched 65 home runs with Seattle and felt that if he could even hit 20 with us that it would be a great start to his career.

1B Luke Nixon was the next in line to occupy 1B. He had shown some power in the minors but was a pretty good hitter and RBI guy. He was going to be given the full time shot to show that we need not look any further for a 1B of the future.

SS Erv Smith coming back from injury was going to be given the everyday SS job and see how he could do. A solid but not spectacular fielder, if he could hit 270 with a 330 OBP we would be happy with him until either minor league phenom Harry Barrell (#2 overall prospect)or George Dawson (#5 overall prospect) take over the position for the next decade.

2B Brooks Meeks had emerged as our top 2B prospect and we decided that even though he was only 22, we would get him out there. He hit 283 at AAA Cincinnati in 1931 so there really wasn't much more he was going to get out of hitting there another year.

Finally C Al Howell was a surprise to me to see in the starting lineup on opening day ahead of veteran backstop Josh Fry. Fry was coming off a lackluster season in 1931 hitting only 236. His defense had also dropped up quite a bit and even though he was only 29, the mileage of catching seemed to be catching up with him. In talking with our manager Hank Leitzke, he felt that he would likely give Fry more off-days but that he was still the #1 catcher.

So how did we do in April coming out of spring training? Honestly I was surprised to see us at 9-9 and in 3rd place in the CA. Of course we were already 6 games behind the Chicago Cougars who were the easy pre-season favorites. It wasn't a shock we were 6 games behind the Cougars since we had played 8 games against them and were 1-7. We were 8-2 against everyone else.

May had us going 14-17 with a 23-26 record overall 11 games out of first. We were in 5th place and 11 games out, so if there were any fantasies about a Forester pennant in 32, they were quickly thrown out the window.

In the first two months 2B Meeks had moved into the lead-off spot in the order hitting a very respectable 286. 1B Luke Nixon had struggled so badly hitting only 225 that we brought up the #1 overall pick in the 1925 draft, Alex Thompson. It was really just an opportunity to give Nixon a break as Thompson had not lived up to the hype of our former Director of Scouting in that first draft. He did however had hit a very respectable 325+ in his over 6 minor league season. Not much power as he had hit a total of 26 home runs in those minor league seasons, but we wanted to see if he could do anything before calling him a 4A player.

SS Erv Smith had gotten off to a great start hitting 321 in the first 2 months of the season and was showing no ill effects of his injury from last year. We figured we'd show case him and that either at the trade deadline or in the off-season someone would want to take a shot at him if he was still hitting around 300 and being an above average SS defensively.

CF Jake Matheson who started the season in the lead-off spot had not adjusted well to major league pitching. After clubbing 65 home runs at AAA, he was hitting a lowly 216 with 2 homers in his first 2 months, moving down from lead-off to 8th in the order.

On the starting pitching side through May here was our rotation and their season to date numbers.

Carl Bragg 3-5 4.77
Ben Turner 4-5 4.20
Roger Perry 5-2 2.64
Karl Johnson 4-4 3.50
Ed Wood 1-3 5.56

Roger Perry had emerged as our #1 starter. Our team had been high on him since acquiring him in a trade with the NY Stars in the pre-season of 1931. He was going to be among the top starting pitchers in the CA all year but would slip a bit in September (more on that later).

Ed Wood had also been called up with George Barker proving that he just wasn't a big league starting pitcher anymore. Barker only last 3 starts and was 0-2 with an ERA of almost 9 and was sent to Cincinnati before ultimately being DFA. He would remain in the organization in 1932 but would pitching at AA Portland and AAA Cincinnati.

Next up - June and a shocking trade on July 4th

03-12-2020, 06:15 PM	#42
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	The End of the Road Trip We have 3 games on Monday and Tuesday (DH Tuesday) against the Cannons to end our 22 game (out of 23) odyssey on the road in the CA. When we left for this trip back on May 26th we were 20-19 and in 3rd place behind Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Now as we have the last 3 games of the trip staring us in the face we are 30-29 tied with the Cannons for 4th still behind Brooklyn and now Chicago who are 2nd and 3rd respectively. Chicago is the team that has caught fire and climbed the ranks. Brooklyn has at least stopped the losing skid, but is now 10.5 games out of the division lead with Philadelphia putting its foot on the throats of the rest of the CA. We have a shot at having a winning road trip overall but we need to win 2 out of 3 to secure it. A tough order against a Baltimore team that I think is just waiting to explode. Hopefully they don't start an explosive run against us the next two days. On the transaction front we have been really quiet. SP Harvey Tully finished his rehab stint (and I nearly lost him because I was out of pocket for a few days). I decided that I hadn't seen enough from Harvey yet to bring him back. In 6 starts in Cincinnati (AAA) he is 1-1 with a 3.30 ERA. His WHIP hasn't been too bad at 1.13 which is a heck of a lot better than the 2.73 WHIP he had with the big club. His walks are way down 1.5 compared to 6.5. I really want Harvey to make it back, he brings great leadership and I still believe he can be a really good pitcher at this level and not just at the AAA level. Maybe he is a AAAA player though, he will likely get his chance to show us he can pitch in the coming weeks. Game 60 - Cleveland Foresters (30-29) 6 @ Baltimore Cannons (30-29) 10 Foresters Waste Great Day at the Plate for Pidgeon in Loss RF Moxie Pidgeon was 4-5 slugging 2 home runs (14) and driving in 3 (48) while scoring 3 times (49). SP Jack Thompson had a rough day against the hard hitting Baltimore lineup giving up 9 earned runs on 10 hits and 6 walks in 4 innings. That sort of effort just isn't going to cut it for a long period. WP - Ken Carpenter 8-6 3.46 LP - Jack Thompson 5-8 4.86 S - Paul Vandeburg 1 3.46 Season Record 30-30 Game 60 - Cleveland Foresters (30-30) 9 @ Baltimore Cannons (31-29) 11 Game 61 - Cleveland Foresters (30-31) 2 @ Baltimore Cannons (32-29) 6 Baltimore's Bats Power Double-Header Sweep In the first game 1B Lou Kelly who was often a target for the 1B starved Foresters hit 2 home runs (13) and drove in 3 (58) in leading Baltimore in a slugfest in game 1 of the double-header against the now mortal Jack Mast. Game 2 was a solid pitching matchup that saw Cannons sometimes SP Buzz Ham get his 4th win on the season. The travel weary Foresters managed just 4 hits in the 2nd game. Game 1 WP - Jim Hitchcook 1-0 5.11 LP - Ed Smith 1-1 5.74 Game 2 WP - Buzz Ham 4-1 2.65 LP - Eddie Gray 6-4 5.89 Season Record 30-32 Road Trip Record 10-12 Road Record 14-17 GM Thoughts - Well thankfully that is over and we get a to travel home and lick our wounds. Not a terrible trip for the length of time we had to endure on the road, but losing those last 4 in Baltimore sure took some of the shine off of things. We head home to take on the Brooklyn Kings for 3 games (Thursday-Saturday) before starting a 4 game series against Montreal starting on Sunday. This marks a stretch of 14 straight home games that will take us to July 2nd before we head back north of the border for a July 4th weekend series against the Toronto Wolves. It would have been nice to have the scheduled double-header on the 4th at home instead of Canada. Looking back at the Kings, we just swept them last week to even the season series against them at 4-4 wins a piece with each team winning a 4-game series at the other teams home park. I certainly hope that we can reverse the road team trend in this series. Since we left Brooklyn the Kings stopped their 11-game losing streak beating Toronto in the first 2 games of a series, but then dropped the next 2 against the Wolves. So they still appear to be struggling as they come our way. Game 63 - Brooklyn Kings (32-29) 4 @ Cleveland Foresters (30-32) 5 12 innings 3B Moore wins it in 12th with run scoring single. SP's Lyman Weigel (Brk) and George Barker (CL) dueled for the most of 9 innings with both giving up 3 runs. Both teams scored in the 11th and the Foresters finally pushed home the winning run on Moore's RBI-single to make Joe McCoy the winner in relief (4-5) WP - Jo McCoy 4-5 4.99 LP - Topsy Moran 4-3 7.50 Season Record 31-32 Game 64 - Brooklyn Kings (32-30) 8 @ Cleveland Foresters (31-32) 10 Foresters Hang on despite rocky outing from Thompson The Foresters evened their record once again at 32-32 while dropping the Kings for the 6th straight time in games between the 2 teams. The Foresters clearing went too long with SP Jack Thompson who gave up 3 runs in the 9th (and 8 overall) before Jack Gunderson slammed the door with 3 straight outs and the save (6) to preserve the win. WP - Jack Thompson 6-8 5.13 LP - Tommy Wilcox 7-6 3.98 S - Jack Gunderson 6 4.29 Season Record 32-32 Game 65 - Brooklyn Kings (32-31) 2 @ Cleveland Foresters (32-32) 8 Foresters Sweep Kings for 2nd Time in Two Weeks The Foresters have won 7 straight against Brooklyn as this time it was a great start from SP Jack Mast (4-1) giving up just 4 hits and 2 runs to get the win. Cleveland got 5 walks and 8 hits, mostly singles to efficiently score 8 runs to move back above 500 and ahead of the Kings in the standings. WP - Jack Mast 4-1 4.88 LP - Jim Langley 8-6 4.69 Season Record 33-32 4th place in CA 10.5 games behind Philadelphia Home Record 19-15 Game 66 - Montreal Saints (32-33) 13 vs Cleveland Foresters (33-32) 7 Former Foresters C Frank Haab's 4-4 ruins Forester Sunday The Saints pulled even in the standings with the Foresters as Frank Haab once a teammate of most of these Foresters went 4-4 including his first home run of the season as the Saints walloped Cleveland at home. SP Eddie Gray's Jekyll l and Hyde was definitely a stinker Hyde in this one. While Gray has a winning record at 6-5, his ERA suggests that he is extremely lucky as it stands at an ugly 6.14. There are some whispers about how long the Foresters will stick with the youngster before sending him down to AAA Cincinnati. WP - Harvey Rodgers 2-2 5.48 LP - Eddie Gray 6-5 6.14 Season Record 33-33 GM Thoughts - Kind of a Jekyll and Hyde sort of week. Losing 3 at the beginning of the week to end the trip, then winning 3 against the free-falling Kings only to turn in a real dud in Sunday's game. So we sit at 500 in a flat-footed tie for 4th with the Saints. We begin next week continuing this series with the Saints and I want to see us really come to play. We are really starting to watch our pitchers. I have seen a lot of bad pitching this year and am about to try some new things if it doesn't change. SP Eddie Gray has been frankly pretty lousy this year and has gotten a pass. He has actually been out pitched by just about everyone. Veteran Jack Thompson has his moments and I am going to talk to Hank about maybe shortening his leash a bit. We have been riding with 8 pitchers and I think I'm going to have us go back to 9. We brought a couple of guys in off waivers to support our starters. One has done well and the other hasn't really gotten much of a chance. It might be time to cut bait on one. Also I am getting really close to a regular season experiment at 1B. George Simpson is now hitting 360 in June, but still not much power. He has his average up to 300 now. Luke Nixon is hitting 290 on the season but only 244 in June. I would like to see AAA 1B Smith who is hitting 324 at Cincinnati get a shot with us. What we are going to do I am not sure, but we are going to do something in the very near future. Next - The End of June Deep Minor League Reports Last edited by DD Martin; 03-12-2020 at 06:28 PM.

03-12-2020, 06:39 PM	#43
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	One of the things that I want to incorporate more going forward is information and reports on our minor league teams. So far in this sort of rebuilding year (the Seattle Mariners wish that re-imaging were this easy) we are playing better, more competitively than I expected. So with that competitiveness my focus has been solely on the major league team. The next few posts are going to focus exclusively on our minor league teams. The Cleveland Foresters have 5 minor league teams AAA - Cincinnati Steamers (Union League) AA - Portland Pipers (Eastern Association) A - Reading Coal Barons (Middle Atlantic League) B - Savannah Privateers (Southeastern League) C - Ottumwa Owls (Upper Mississippi Valley Association One of the things that I really have harped on in our minor league system is establishing winning environments while grooming the future big league players. I think we have done that and have been pleased that we have had so much success in the minors in now our 5th season. While we dive into the teams at each level and how they have done the last few years and specifically the stats for the current season. We will also dive into our top prospects in the organization. The BNN doesn't love our system with their player ratings. We do have 5 in the top 100, but none higher than 31st. We have 10 more in the 101-200 range. We will also be looking at moving some players who deserve promotion up as our minor league teams move into the 2nd half of their seasons. Below is a list of our top prospects by the BNN and how they are doing this season. Next : Our first review will be of the 3-time defending Union League Champions, the Cincinnati Steamers. Attached Images

03-13-2020, 12:44 PM	#44
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	AAA – Cincinnati Steamers Union League The Steamers have a proud history and have been more successful than their big league affiliate the Foresters. Cincinnati has won the last 3 Union League Championships and appear well on their way to winning a 4th straight crown. The teams record since GM Martin has taken over has been 1926 70-70 10GB 4th 1927 84-56 --- League Champions 1928 88-52 --- League Champions 1929 97-43 --- League Champions 1930 48-14 --- Leading league by 9 ½ Overall 387-235 .622 Fans in Cincinnati have wanted an FABL team for years and even some say that they and Cleveland should switch spots as Cincinnati is the better market. That hasn’t happened and under former owner the late Harold Marshall it wouldn’t have been considered. But with Harold’s son Elmer in charge now, there is speculation that he might consider moving the team to Cincinnati if he felt the climate was right in the league office. Last year the Steamers outdrew all of the Federal League teams except the league champion Philadelphia Sailors and outdrew their parent club by over 394,000 fans. This year the Steamers started the year rather slowly by their standards sitting in 4th place at 13-10. Since that time, they have gone a remarkable 35-4 to grab control of the league lead. They are led by a strong pitching staff and also have a fairly good hitting cast as well. Several players on this team are knocking on the door to be called up to the big-league club and it could happen very soon. Key Hitting Prospects on the Steamer Club are #5 Cleveland Prospect – CF Leo Clark* B-L Age-23 (Not on 40-man roster) Clark was the Forester #1 draft pick (#12th overall) in the 1928 Draft. He split his rookie season Class A Reading (105 games) and then was promoted to AA Portland where he played in 28 games. He actually had greater statistical success at AA where he hit 376 compared to 292 at Class A. As he matures the scouts feel that he will develop above average power, but and so far this season he has hit 7 homeruns compared to just 1 all of last season. This season he is hitting 299/417/879 at AAA Cincinnati and if he continues on that pace, he is likely to be a late-season callup. Depending on his continued development he could be the opening day CF for the Foresters in 1931. #15 Cleveland Prospect – RF Mike Williams B-L Age-25 (Not on 40-man roster) Williams was the Foresters #1 draft pick (#13th overall) in the 1926 draft. His climb has been a little slower than that of Clark but his hitting has really begun to show. He spent his rookie season in Class A in 1927 and a large part of the 1928 season there as well before graduating to AA. He again split time in A/AA early in 1929 before moving up to the Steamers. Last season his power really began to emerge as he hit 34 homeruns last year and has hit a staggering 33 this season. The corner OF is crowded in Cleveland so he will either have to learn a new position or could become a trade candidate. Rumors have it that Cleveland might try him at 1B the 2nd half of the season. #30 Cleveland Prospect – CF Frank Moseley B-L Age 25 Moseley was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Saints on November 5th 1928 and was figured to be the heir apparent in CF for the Foresters. He made the opening day big league roster out of spring training but then struggled at the plate hitting only 207 before his demotion. Since his demotion where the organization hoped he’d regain confidence and his swing, he has struggled at Cincinnati hitting only 188 in 21 games. His star has really fallen in the last few months but he will be given every opportunity to regain his form. Key Pitching Prospects #4 Forester Prospect LHSP Karl Johnson age-22 (not on 40-man roster) 6th Round draft pick in the 1925 draft #94 overall. Johnson appears headed to the rotation late during this current season. Right now, he is pitching well with the Steamers and since his call up to Cincinnati mid-way through last season he is 17-2 with an ERA below 2.85. His strikeouts this year are up, but so are his walks which is a little alarming. He had a shot to make the opening day roster with the Foresters but struggled a bit in the spring games so came back to Cincinnati. He throws a solid fastball (90-92) and likes to nibble on the corners. Cincinnati eventually sees him as a mid-rotation starter. #9 Forester Prospect LHSP Rick Walther age-22 (not on 40-man roster) Walther was a minor league signee after he was undrafted following the 1925 draft. He started his career at Class B and really wasn’t distinguishing himself as much more than an upper minor league pitcher potentially. But then something clicked for him in the 1929 season. He was 4-0 at Class A, then was quickly promoted to AA and went 3-0 there and then came up to Cincinnati where he went 8-1 with a 1.94 ERA down the stretch. This season he is 6-1 and his ERA sits at 3.24, but he appears to have a future in Cleveland. His strikeouts and walks like Johnson are both up some from last season. Where these raised numbers are the umpires in the Union League, the hitters or something they are doing remains to be seen. Cincinnati is pegging him as a future #4 starter. #10 Forester Prospect is LHSP Rube McCormick age-25 The Foresters acquired him in one of GM Martin’s first early trades in June of 1926 from Brooklyn. He has had limited time in Cleveland last season where he went 0-3 with a 4.50 ERA. McCormack is 6-2 with a 3.06 ERA in Cincinnati. His time as a prospect is running out and the hope was that he would already be in the top 3 in the Cleveland rotation by now. He will get a shot this year and then in the spring to nail down a spot. He could also end up in the bullpen but the expectation is his time is very soon. Other Players to watch 1B Joe Smith B-L age-26 minor league FA signing No longer a prospect, Smith is still a very intriguing player and one that the Foresters hoped would be on the big-league roster to start the year. He is an excellent hitter and has played a bit of OF to offer some versatility to his game. The intrigue is he has some speed in his game which is something the Foresters don’t have much of. He has stolen 43 bases the last year and a half. If he wasn’t blocked by George Simpson and recently acquired Luke Nixon, he would be up with the big league team Many are speculating that he will be up in July one way or another. SS Marty Smith B-R age-25 Was acquired in the Rule 5 draft last season in the never-ending search for middle infielders for the Foresters. He didn’t play a lot with the Foresters last year but had to remain on the roster, so this year the thought was to have him play everyday in Cincinnati. He hasn’t responded as well as the Foresters were hoping hitting on 238 so far this season. He has shown surprising power this year though with 17 homers in his 61 games played. The power angle is intriguing but the team wants him to continue to work on his defense. He is preforming fairly well with a RF of 4.41, ZR +2.5 and eff at 1.022. If he could squeeze out a few more base hits and raise his average he might have a shot next spring. RP Frank Phillips LHRP age-23 (not on 40-man roster) The recently turned 23-year-old is part of the young group of pitchers that Cleveland hopes will take over next season. Phillips was a 14th round pick in the 28 draft and went from Class C to AAA early last season. He has notched 22 saves in his 87 appearances in Cincinnati since last season. RP Bill Beier LHRP age-26 (not on 40-man roster) Beier was a 5th round pick in the 1925 draft and after a bit of a slow start moved to a reliever and seems to have found more footing. Again, his strikeout numbers are up in the strikeout happy Union League but he is 3-1 with 6 saves and a 3.41 ERA. Another pitcher that likely will be called up by September if not sooner. Final Notes – The speculation is that GM Martin and Forester Owner Marshall want to keep Cincinnati competing at a high level and secure that 4th championship. Since the Foresters are rebuilding this season and not a playoff factor, keeping this winning attitude in Cincinnati seems to be carrying some importance to them both. Next - Class AA Portland Attached Images

03-13-2020, 03:21 PM	#45
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Foresters AA Affiliate Portland Pipers (1929-1930) Toledo Tornados (1907-1928) As the FABL re-organized its minor league system in off-season after the 1928 season, the Foresters AA affiliate changed from the Toledo Tornados to the Portland Pipers. Late Forester owner Harold Marshall was against this idea as he liked having his top 3 clubs in the state of Ohio. It made it easy for his staff to review minor league players at AA and AAA and the costs were reduced since the travel was in state. Despite his protests the FABL completed the reorganization after his death in July of 1928. Toledo was moved to become a Class AAA affiliate but was not placed in the Union League for a nature rivalry with the Cincinnati Steamers. Instead they were placed in the Century League. Portland (RI) was then offered the opening in the Eastern League and placed as the AA affiliate of the Cleveland Foresters. The arrangement seems to be working out okay as the Pipers went 74-66 in their first season (4th place in the Eastern Association) and attracted 285,000. This year the team is currently in first place with a 48-21 record and well on pace to beat the attendance that they set last year. Half-way through the season they have already had 204,000 fans come to the games. Cleveland AA Affiliate Record in the Martin Years 1926 80-60 5GB 3rd Place (Toledo) 1927 77-63 27GB 4th Place (Toledo) 1928 84-56 ---- League Champion (Toledo) 1929 74-66 20GB 4th Place (Portland) 1930 43-20 ----- Leading the Eastern Association by 3 ½ games Overall 358-265 .575 This season the Pipers are buoyed by there 28-8 home record as the best mark in the Eastern Association. In 1-run games they are 21-11 so they are winning a lot of close games. The team ERA is 2nd in the league (Starters 3rd, Bullpen 4th) and that seems to be carrying them. The offense is 4th overall in many categories and runs scored 385 but with the best runs against in the EA 289 they have a positive run differential of +96. Key Batting Prospects #1 Foresters Prospect LF/3B Ray Cochran B-R Age-24 (not on 40-man roster) Cochran was a 4th round choice (#57 overall) in the 1927 draft. He started his minor league career at Reading in 1928 and returned to start the 29 season there as well. Power is not his forte, but solid defense and the ability to led off with an high OBP is a key. He was tried as a 3B in the minors after spending most of college at the corner OF. His defensive work at the hot corner left a lot to be desired and it appears that experiment is off. Might be blocked getting to the big leagues by Pidgeon and Perret in the corner spots, but could be a versatile bench bat. #3 Foresters Prospect 2B Brooks Meeks B-R Age-21 (not on 40-man roster) A big part of the return in the October 29 trade with Pittsburgh that gave the Miners the #2 overall pick in the 1929 draft. Drafted out of high school by Pittsburgh in 3rd round (41st overall) of the 1927 draft youngster enters AA this year in his debut with the Cleveland Organization. Had a great spring and if he was a little older might have broken camp with the big-league team. Currently he has started to adjust to AA ball playing against older players. After a slow start he has his average up to 263 with Portland. A realistic ETA for his arrival in Cleveland is Opening Day 1932. Forester Pitching Prospects #12 Prospect Carl Bragg RHSP Age-22 (not on 40-man roster) Bragg was drafted in the 9th Rd (#129 overall) in the 1926 draft out of high school. Was considered a project and has slowly worked his way up the ladder. He spent 2 full seasons in Class B Savannah 23-16 ERA 5+ and then went to Class A Reading where he went 12-13 with a 4.21 ERA in 29. This year in Portland he is having his best minor league season at 5-3 with a 3.46 ERA. He will likely work at Portland all year and then give AAA a shot next season. After next season we will have to make a call on if he is ready to be on the 40-man roster. #13 Prospect RHSP Tom Spradlin Age -25 The tall (6’3) righty was another product of our 1st draft as a 12th rounder in 1926 (#177 overall). We really did find a few late round gems in that draft. He’s been stuck at AA now for his 3rd season but has pitched a bit at AAA Cincinnati in 10 relief innings. He has been blocked a bit by the young talent at AAA but if he gets a break, he will go up there this season. He is probably having his best season as a minor leaguer with an 8-4 record in 24 games (10 starts) as he has been the swing man for the Pipers all season. He might start at Cincinnati or could work the bullpen as he tries to find a roll and a way to Cleveland. Other Players to Watch SP/C Al Howell LHP B-L Age 24 Someone we really wanted in the deal that sent Lawrence and Robinson to Detroit last season. He is a 2-way player and we have let him continue with that. Our hope is that he could be a really solid starter and then backup catcher at the big-league level. His bat has cooled off a bit since coming over as he has hit in the 260’s at Portland but he is a solid defensive catcher. He is pitching well at Portland over this year and last with a 13-8 record and 3 saves with a 3.40 ERA. His versatility and solid pitching make him a likely candidate in Cleveland within the next season or two. Look for a callup to Cincinnati as the organization might make room for him and release a veteran catcher. SP Stan Harrison RHSP Age-26 Drafted in the 1924 draft by GM Martin’s predecessor, Harrison has often been overlooked but has simply deliver wins on the mound. He is in his 3rd season at the AA level having won 42-20 with an ERA below 3.00. He deserves a shot at AAA for the rest of the season. CF Leon Drake B-R Age 21 Drake doesn’t show on the prospects list because he was a Rule 5 pickup last season and spent the year in Cleveland. He was the #54 prospect in all of baseball prior to losing prospect status. He struggled in limited playing time at Cleveland last year when he was 20 so is playing everyday at Portland. He is hitting 284/390/914 with 10 homeruns and 46 RBI’s and 50 runs scored. He needs to work a bit on his defense as he has allowed a few too many errors this season, but he has a very bright future. 1B Alex Thompson B-R Age 23 The just turned 23-year-old Thompson has struggled to live up to the hype of former Foresters Scouting Director Robert “Dingy” Batson. The last pick of Batson before he was fired by GM Martin during the 1925 draft (#14 overall). The hype was Thompson would develop power which the Foresters desperately crave at 1B has just not happened. His best HR season was last year where he hit 7 between Ottumwa and Savannah. Whether his lack of at-bats in the 27-28 seasons set him back or it was just meant to be. Thompson appears to be a bust as a 1st rounder. Final Thoughts – We are encouraged mainly by the pitching here in Portland and just the grit and makeup of the team that has won so many close games. Several of the players noted will eventually get a shot in Cleveland and we are still very much intrigued by Al Howell. Drake and Meeks hopefully makeup a core of our middle defense in years to come. Both are very young and I would like to see get a full season next year in AAA Cincinnati to be sure they are ready. They would both be 23 if they made the Foresters Opening Day roster in 1932. There are a couple of more pitchers on this team that might make some noise at least in Cincinnati that we didn’t cover here. Attached Images

03-13-2020, 03:22 PM	#46
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Didn't have room but here are the Eastern Association Standings at the end of June 1930. Next up - Forester's Last week of June Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 03-13-2020 at 03:59 PM.

03-12-2020, 04:57 PM	#41
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Week 3 of the Never Ending Road Trip We have the 1 remaining game in New York against the Stars Monday and then move across town to take on the Brooklyn Kings. Before I get into the Kings and the rest of this week I need to go back and touch on the meeting that was had a week ago when we can home for that 1 game against Toronto. The Cleveland P-I Editor met we our owner and myself to discuss the issues surrounding the P-I's columnist "Angry" Ronald William Apter. To our surprise P-I Owner Russell Howard was the one that came into the meeting along with his Editor James E Swift. Long story short it was agreed that Apter would not accompany the team on this road trip, but would be allowed back into pressbox and locker rooms once we return home. The paper stated firmly that they are standing behind Apter but, that they would "try to take the poison out of his pen". While it would be nice for the paper to represent us fairly and not have some personal bias or grudge against us, the paper is also a major sponsor for the team and Mr. Marshall didn't want that to change. So Angry Ronny will be back, but for now I will enjoy the coverage of the team without his vitriol. Game 53 - Cleveland Foresters (25-27) 5 @ New York Stars (22-30) 9 Stars defeat Foresters to snap their skid Records for this game were somehow lost. I suspect Ron Apter has something to do with it. What we do know is that Russ Franklin hit his 2nd home run for the Foresters and that Pete Layton his 5th for the stars. Both teams got 12 hits and Jack Mast looked like the Jack Mast of old in taking the loss. WP - Dick Richards 1-1 6.75 LP - Jack Mast 2-1 3.72 Season Record 25-28 (Side note on the above game, for some reason when I check the boxscore it gave me the St Louis vs Phily Keystone game. So while on the schedule page I could get some details, I didn't dig too hard to see why everything was so skewed). GM Thoughts - After a forgettable game Monday we move across town to face the suddenly struggling Brooklyn Kings who have lost 7 in a row. This is the same team that came into town last month and swept us in 4 games. This series is also 4 games so I hope we can return the favor. The Kings are a young team and while winning can be contagious, losing can be a huge mental strain on a team so young. They are still in 2nd place, but have now fallen to 9.5 games back of the Sailors and are just a half game ahead of the now surging Chicago Cougars. We are currently in a tie for 5th with the Montreal Saints but just a game out of 3rd. Game 54 - Cleveland Foresters (25-28) 21 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-23) 6 Foresters score 3 Touchdowns in routing the slumping Kings Yes you read that right, the Foresters scored 21 runs and really embarrassed the Kings at home. Some Brooklyn fan trying to explain the lopsided result claimed the Foresters were stealing signs. If they were, they should keep doing it as they rapped out 25 hits and 21 runs. C Josh Fry scored 4 runs going 3-5, Moxie Pidgeon and Joe Perret each hit their 10th homeruns of the season. SP Eddie Gray was back in the rotation for this one and even got 3 hits and scored 3 runs. WP - Eddie Gray 5-3 6.09 LP - Dave Rankin 0-3 15.85 Season Record 26-28 Game 55 - Cleveland Foresters 26-28 3 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-24) Foresters extend Kings slide to 9 straight In a game that was the complete opposite of yesterdays affair, the Foresters road the strong pitching of George Barker (5-5) to beat the Kings 3-1. The only run the Kings got was 2B Bill Scott's 16th home run of the season. Jack Gunderson recorded his 5th save after having a tough stretch early in the trip. WP - George Barker 5-5 4.69 LP - Tommy Wilcox 6-5 3.48 S- Jack Gunderson 5 4.72 Season Record 27-28 Game 56 - Cleveland Foresters (27-28) 3 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-25) 1 Foresters claw their way back to 500 with CF Bobby Allen hitting a clutch 2-run single in the 9th to win it. Forester Manager Hank Leitzke was all smiles after the game stating that "whenever we hold the other team to 1 run, like we have the last 2 days, I like our chances.". Profound words indeed from the Forester manager, who some feel like is a miracle worker to get this team to play even close to 500 ball. SP Jack Thompson went the whole way with a 6 hitter to nail down the win. WP - Jack Thompson 5-7 4.29 LP - Jim Langley 8-4 4.46 Season Record 28-28 Game 57 - Cleveland Foresters (28-28) 12 @ Brooklyn Kings (30-26) 7 Cleveland returns sweep favor and sends Kings to 11th straight defeat. Perret hit a homer (11), Pidgeon hits 2 (12) to lead the Foresters to the 4-game sweep on the road. Pidgeon and 3B Jake Moore now share the team RBI lead with 44 each, and Joe Perret has 39. The Forester offense really came to life against the struggling Kings in the first and last games of the series, while the pitching dominated the middle games. WP - Jack Mast 3-1 4.37 LP - Jack Wardle 2-3 7.45 Season Record 29-28 Road Trip 9-8 GM Thoughts - While I am thrilled to see us get a huge sweep, it saddens me some to see the Kings on this long losing streak that is now at 11. These guys (pointing to the Kings clubhouse) are going to be a real force in this league in the coming years and sometimes the growing pains and lessons can be tough on such a young team. As for our team a nice little stretch of winning 6 out of 7 sure makes one feel better. Some of the pitching performances over the last few days have made me at least temper my thoughts of bringing up the youngsters before they are ready. I do have some growing concerns at 1B as George Simpson and Luke Nixon have pretty evenly split time there this year and neither has delivered what we hoped. They are not playing terribly as both are around 300 in batting average, but they are not scoring or driving in runs like I would want to see out of a power position like 1st base. We don't really have a power hitting 1B option in the organization either that is near ready, even though we have tried to find one. On the other side, the play of C Josh Fry and 3B Jake Moore has been a pleasant surprise. I was so concerned about Moore that we brought in Harry Stroud on an early season waiver claim, but he has hardly touched the field with how well Moore is playing. And with Barney Green hitting well in his 1-2 games a week, we are keeping Fry fresh and he is hitting a career best 336 so far. Now we head off to Baltimore for a 5 game series over 4 days (Saturday-Tuesday). Both teams have identical 29-28 records going into the series. Game 58 - Cleveland Foresters (29-28) 15 @ Baltimore Cannons (29-28) 5 10th 10-Run 10th inning seals the win for Foresters to run win streak to 5 and 7 out of 8. Something you don't see everyday, an extra inning game that is decided by 10 runs. Before the wild 10th, the 9th inning was also wild as the game was tied at 3 going into the 9th when Cleveland scored 2 to take a 5-3 lead. But they couldn't hold it in the bottom half and gave up 2 to see the game go to extra's tied at 5. The Foresters then scored 10 runs, on 9 hits and 3 walks against 3 Cannon pitchers. Cleveland hit 4 doubles in the inning and enjoyed winning in such a shocking way. WP - Eddie Gray 5-3 5.98 LP - Paul Reed 1-6 6.28 Season Record 30-28 Game 59 - Cleveland Foresters (30-28) 4 @ Baltimore Cannons (29-29) 7 Cannons strike back end Foresters win streak at 5 Cannon SP Rabbit Day got his 10th win of the season going 8.1 and giving up 4 runs (2 earned) against the Foresters. Day over the years has had the Foresters number often and today he struck out 7 Cleveland hitters. Forester pitchers issues 8 walks including 4 to Cannon C Joe Welch. WP - Rabbit Day 10-6 3.50 LP - George Barker 5-6 4.87 Season Record 30-29 Road Trip 10-9 Road Record 14-14 GM Thoughts - Overall a great week for us going 5-2 but that last game left a sour taste in my mouth. We are almost through with this marathon road trek and sitting at 10-9 on it makes me feel pretty good. Now if we can just finish strong with these 3 games Monday and Tuesday against the Cannons, we should be in pretty good shape heading into the final part of June.

03-13-2020, 04:58 PM	#47
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	The last week of June 1930 The Foresters head into the week with a loss in the first of a 4-games series with the Montreal Saints. Both teams are 33-33 currently tied for 4th place in the CA. After these 3 with the Saints, then we welcome a Baltimore team that has given us fits this year having won 6 of the 9 games played. Getting them here at home and winning the series would really go a long way towards us staying in the upper division this season. Our attendance is off this year even though we are certainly in a better spot now than when we ended the year last season. We are off 16.4% from last season and while some of it is the economic issues of the time, some of it is we are lacking name recognition players like we had in the past. I believe that our stars like Pidgeon and Perret are over with the fans, and we are starting to see some traction on C Josh Fry and even 3B Jake Moore who looks like he finally has laid claim without question to the job. Two players in the fans eyes that are just a notch below those 4 guys might not be long for the organization. 1B George Simpson and SP Jack Mast are both not likely to be back next year and there is some question if they will be here at the end of this year. Before the games are played this last week of June, Simpson is hitting 300 on the season but just has 1 homer and only 13 RBI's. Now to be fair he is splitting most of time with Luke Nixon who is hitting 290 with 1-14. So our 1B are hitting around 295 on the season with 2 homers and 27 RBI's. That is just not good enough. I know that the pitching on this team is what is making us a non-contender, but we have some prospects on the way up that will be here soon to hopefully remedy that. The SS and 1B positions have been a revolving door of mediocrity save for Russ Combs hitting (SS), but his fielding was dreadful. We continue to try and address the SS position in the draft, but we have no one near ready to be a big power hitting 1B. Joe Smith and Ron McDougle at Cincinnati are both fine hitters that can also play a bit in the corner OF, but neither are the 20-30 HR guy we want at that position. But both of those guys can hit, and probably hit 330 up here in the big leagues so their time is nearing. As far as Jack Mast, he is what he has always been since we picked him off waivers. A few bright spots, some solid innings and then the rest are of the serious clunker variety. Game 67 - Montreal Saints (33-33) 3 vs Cleveland Foresters (33-33) 4 Franklin's clutch Double in 6th sets up Forester Victory George Barker went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs and pitched a solid game and Jack Gunderson went the last 3 innings and picked up the win. Bobby Allen hit his homer to give the home team the cushion they needed. WP - Jack Gunderson 3-4 4.20 LP - Charlie Stedman 5-6 4.20 Season Record 34-33 Game 68 - Montreal Saints (33-34) 6 vs Cleveland Foresters (34-33) 7 10 innings. Allen's bomb wins it in the 10th After a questionable decision to leave SP Jack Thompson in the game entering the 9th inning, the veteran gave up 2 runs to see the game head into extra's. Manager Hank Leitzke decided to let Thompson ride into the 10 and Bobby Allen saved both Thompson and Leitze a lot of heat with his heroic game ending homer run (5), his 2nd in 2 days against the Saints. WP - Jack Thompson 7-8 5.15 LP - Gil Kern 0-1 9.00 Season Record 35-33 Game 69 - Montreal Saints (33-35) 2 vs Cleveland Foresters (35-33) 4 Late runs in 7th and 8th support Mast in Forester Win Today we saw the brilliant Jack Mast on the mound and he pitched a 2-hit and gave up just a home run Lee Griffin for the Saints 2 runs. The Foresters put together enough hits in the 6th (1 run) and 7th (3 runs) to pull out the victory and the series. WP - Jack Mast 5-1 4.37 LP - Jack Barnet 6-6 6.34 Season Record 36-33 GM Thoughts - Just when I think Jack Mast is done he throws another gem. If he could just find some consistency he could be a solid mid-rotation guy year in and year out. We are just a game behind the Cannons who are coming to town and 2 behind the 2nd place Cougars. It's hard to think about, but if we were to win or even sweep this series we would be likely in 2nd place. The odds are long though as I really think Baltimore if they can ever put it all together for a solid stretch would rise up the rankings and might give the Sailors a few fits before the end of the season. Game 70 - Baltimore Cannons (37-32) 10 vs Cleveland Foresters (36-33) 14 Typical Slugfest between Cannons and Foresters see's Cleveland come out on top and move into a 3rd place tie. The fans saw an exciting game as both SP gave up 9 earned runs, but errors on both sides helped the cause. Gray only gave up 5 earned runs while Ham gave up 4 for Baltimore. Lou Kelly who loves to hit homers against the Foresters did so again (17th on the season and seems like half are against us), but hot hitting Bobby Allen hit his 6th of the year for Cleveland. SS Jim Payne made 2 errors (20 on the season) but tried to make up for it with his 1st homerun of the year. WP - Eddie Gray 7-5 6.14 LP Buzz Ham 5-2 2.70 Season Record 37-33 Game 71 - Baltimore Cannons (37-33) 7 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-33) 5 10 innings Cannons score 2 in the 10th aided by an error by Erv Smith Once again an untimely error opened the flood gates for the opposition and cost the Foresters a win. RP Jack Gunderson was the tough luck loser in this one that once again dropped the Foresters out of a tied for 3rd. WP - Paul Reed 2-6 5.93 LP - Jack Gunderson 3-5 4.11 S - Lee Douillard 7 4.15 Season Record 37-34 Game 72 - Baltimore Cannons (38-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-34) 1 Carpenter Shuts Down Foresters in Rout! There is a reason why SP Ken Carpenter has been a stalwart for the Cannons even in the lean times. He is just that good and today he was lights out. Carp needed just 104 pitches and gave up just 3 hits in the 1 run outing. Jack Thompson took the loss for the home side giving up 6 runs in 6 innings and rookie Felix Dent had his first rough outing in a spell giving up 5 runs. WP - Ken Carpenter 11-6 3.15 LP Jack Thompson 7-9 5.32 Season Record 37-35 Game 73 - Baltimore Cannons (39-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-35) 6 Kelly does it again, hits for cycle as Cannons race out of town with series Win. Cleveland pitchers are going to have nightmares about Lou Kelly for years as the 4-5 and hit for the cycle today. 5 RBI's and 4 runs scored gives Kelly as season long line of 330 with 18 HR's and 75 RBI's. Cleveland Manager Hank Leitzke was quoted as saying "thank god Kelly is leaving town, he is a wrecking crew." WP - Bob Miller 9-8 4.85 LP - Jack Mast 5-2 4.74 Season Record 37-36 GM Thoughts - Sigh, I really did try several times to get Kelly to play 1B for us. I can dream about what I could have offered to get him in Forester Green. And the Jack Mast story continues, brilliant to dud in days. Can't blame him though this pitching staff was put together to get us through a season and I knew it would be painful at times. So we go from a quick tie with the Cannons for 3rd to 3 games behind them, so we are back in 4th and just ahead of the Saints by a game. Tomorrow we end the month, hopefully it will be a good finish. The Stars are coming to town and it would be just our luck if they finally started playing like the team many of us thought they were.

03-13-2020, 05:59 PM	#48
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	June 30th Daily Foresters end month with Win By Ronald William Apter Yes indeed the Foresters ended the month with a resounding 12-3 thrashing of the New York Stars to end the month at 38-36, firmly entrenched in 4th place. At the beginning of the season I didn't think this team would win its 38th game until the end of August and here we are the end of June. I can admit when I am wrong, the Foresters aren't terrible, they are just mediocre once again. Not good enough to finish in a tight race, not bad enough to get a top pick. It is a perplexing situation to be just this average. But today they were not average. They combined solid defense (only 1 error), with solid pitching (Barker gives up just 4 hits and 2 earned runs), and a lot of offense (Allen misses cycle by a homerun) in getting 15 hits and 20 total baserunners. The solid outing by Barker was just what the Foresters needed to see from the right-hander. He started the year fast, then slumped in May and now is back to pitching, well average overall at 6-6 4.41 ERA. The Foresters benefited from getting a game with one of the worst starting pitchers in all of baseball, Star Slug-o Skinny Foster. How this guy is still in the big leagues this year is uttering amazing in itself. Hopefully Cleveland will see him again later this year. Overall I give the Foresters a well deserved C for their first half of the season. Now will they continue this way or will they collapse like last season. Only time will tell, but for now Cleveland fans, enjoy the so-so ness of your team, for however long they are "your team". WP - George Barker 6-6 4.41 LP - Skinny Foster 3-11 6.68 GM Thoughts - Well as you can see "Angry" Ron is back and while his seemingly "softer" report for the Foresters was a surprise, he still appears to not be able to write a story without ripping someone. This poor guy Foster has had a rough season, but he didn't deserve that. I will have to apologize to the Stars GM for the printed words from our reporter with an attitude. Why he has that attitude I don't know, but now I am determined to find out. It was nice to end the month of June with a win, it gave us a winning month at 15-13, and kept us in the first division of the CA in 4th. Below is the month ending baseball report from Michael J. Kiely of the Cincinnati Tribune. Michael J. Kiely Cincinnati Tribune Baseball Month-Wrap The Foresters ended the month with a huge win over the New York Stars by a score of 12-3. With the victory your hometown hero's appear to be going in the right direction. The pitching is still very spotty and is something that has to be improved for the team to rise in the rankings anytime soon. The offense for the Foresters is 3rd in runs scored in the CA and leads the league in home runs and extra base hits and slugging %. The pitching still leaves you just begging for some help. The team ErA stands at 5.23 (6th best in the league) and while it is hard to imagine 2 teams with worse overall pitching, there are apparently. The Starters are 6th in ERA at 5.37 and the bullpen is a better than most 3rd at 4.75. It really does show the state of pitching this year in the CA though. Some are saying there is something different in the ball, but this stat tells me that it isn't that. The Foresters are last at issuing walks in the CA with 269. Free passes can kill a pitching staff. The Foresters were hoping to improve defensively from last season. Unfortunately it hasn't materialize on the field as the team is 6th in Def Eff at .658 and 6th in zone rating with a negative -0.7 Here are the monthly awards for the Foresters Batter of the month - Most would probably pick RF Moxie Pidgeon who put up really good numbers in June hitting 358/410/1002 with 7 homers and 28 RBI's. I'm going to go with the unsung 2B though Bob Baker who has re-taken the hold of the keystone position with a June batting line of 333/385/890 8DB's 4TP's and 1 HR along with 24 RBI's. Other strong hitters of the month were C Josh Fry 357 1-14, 3B Jake Moore 357 4-20, CF Bobby Allen 328 3-20 and of course LF Joe Perret 378 2-11. Perret's power numbers were down this month but he did miss about 10 days from late May through the first week of June. Pitcher of the Month - Some would say can you find anyone to give it too? Well in a close race I'm going with SP George Barker who was 2-2 with a team leading 3.68 ERA for June. A nice bounce back after a rough May. Rookie of the Month - SS Erv Smith had a solid month hitting 322 with a homer and 14 RBI's Now here are the league wide awards CA Player of the Month - No surprise here with the way he terrorized the Foresters. Its Baltimore Cannons RF Lou Kelly who smash 10 home runs and drove in a mind boggling 43 runs in June while batting 358. Just an amazing month for Kelly. CA Pitcher of the Month - Also a Baltimore Cannon as SP Ken Carpenter gets the nod going 6-1 with a 2.38 ERA. On the season 11-6 with a 3.15 ERA in 151.2 innings. Looks like a 300 inning season for one the Cannon's aces. CA Rookie of the Month - Chicago Cougar RF Vince York wins the rookie of the month honors on the strength of his hitting 413 with 6 homeruns and 33 RBI's. In most months that would win Player of the Month. Over in the Fed FA Player of the Month - Eagles C TR Goins hit 378 with 13 homers and 34 RBI's. FA Pitcher of the Month - Boston Minutemen SP Wilbur Laramee went 6-0 with a 3.33 ERA in 6 starts. FA Rookie of the Month - St. Louis rookie RF Alex Ingraham. the 24-year-old was drafted out of Coastal California just last December in the 1929 draft. He hit 340 with 6 homers and 27 RBI's for the Pioneers who took the youngster in the 2nd round. GM Thoughts - Well we sit at 38-36 at the end of June. I really think Hank Leitzke should get some consideration for Manager of the Year. This team was mostly an afterthought by many, pegged anywhere from what some would say was an unrealistic 5th, all the way to record setting worst winning percentage in franchise history. With the record we are actually sitting in 4th place at the moment 11.5 games behind the Sailors and 3 games out of 2nd. Never thought that would happen and honestly, I really thought the Sailors would be running away and hiding by at least 12 games over everybody. They still might and the race isn't really that close, but for Chicago and Baltimore fans that have seen some lean years the last several, the thought of a race has to make them happy. For us, we would like to start making some decisions on players and moving forward with the future. Its great having an almost 500 record, but part of me really wants to see some of these youngsters now and get their feet wet, no matter what happens to the wins and losses. We will see where we go the next week as we will pass the half-way point in the season. Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 03-13-2020 at 06:00 PM.

04-30-2020, 02:23 PM	#49
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Contrary to popular beliefs, the Cleveland Foresters are not dead. Just the finish of the 1930 season was for the team. The Foresters are going to return for the 1931 season and the draft is getting under way. Did we get our top prospect on our board at #4, stay tuned to find out.

05-03-2020, 06:23 PM	#50
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	1930 Season Continental Association Wrap-Up When we last checked in, the Philadelphia Sailors were comfortably in the lead. I will say that the Sailors did in fact win the division title once again, but it was anything but comfortably. Cracks began to show some vulnerability in the Sailors and the young guns of the CA were ready to step up and give them a run for their money. The Baltimore Cannons and the surprising Montreal Saints both finished with 86-68, just 2 games behind the Sailors 88-66. The Chicago Cougars continued their impressive rebuild as well and closed with a record of 84-70, just 4 games out of 4th. After that we have the New York Stars who were staggering around 500 all season. I was really surprised the Stars weren't able to put together a run to get them in the upper division, but they did finish with an over 500 record at 78-76. After those 5 teams things really dropped off, although the Brooklyn Kings and their horde of youngsters were showing signs of coming of age and finished 6th at 75-79. 6 teams mentioned in the CA and we have not gotten to our beloved Foresters. Shades of last season without the major trades in July, the Foresters 2nd half of the season again was terrible. At one point the team was 45-42 and in the top half of the division and then came the (2nd half of) July swoon the dog days of August and the September to forget. The Foresters limped to the 2nd worst record in all of baseball from that point going 24-43. Only the Toronto Wolves were worse down the stretch (18-50). So we hung on to 7th place at 69-85. Even though it was not a record to write home about, the showing gave the Foresters a plus 5 games in the win column over their previous season (64-90). Will the Foresters climb back to 70 wins in 1931? Stay tuned. Final CA Standings Attached Images

05-03-2020, 06:48 PM	#51
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	The Fed League Standings and the World Series The Fed League and World Series At the end of June the FA was all about the Philadelphia Keystones and the defending World Champion Detroit Dynamos. 2 1/2 games separated the two as they were in their mind running away with the division race. But a funny thing happened on the way to a 2-team race.....the New York Gotham's got hot and I mean really hot. The Gotham's who were an afterthought like much of the rest of the league went 27-5 in July and by the end of the month had erased the 9 game deficit they had at the end of June. In fact the Gotham's led the FA by a game over the Keys and suddenly it was the Dynamos on the outside looking in at 6 back. While the Gotham's didn't .850 ball the rest of August and September, they go 32-17 and win the division comfortably by 6 games of the Keystones and 15 games over the Dynamos. The defending champion Dynamo's only had 1 winning month after Memorial Day (16-12 August) but were a combined 53-56 after May 31st. The Boston Minutemen finished in 4th place a exactly 500 (77-77) and Chicago Chiefs faltered to a 5th place 70-84 finish. Pittsburgh who last won the FA in 1924 continued its string of non-winning seasons (they did finish 500 1 year) since with a lackluster 67-87 record. Then came a bit of a surprise, the Washington Eagles team who looked like they might be finally putting together a solid competitive team just fell apart and went 64-90. Few saw that coming. Last but not least as the GM carousal continued to spin there, the last place St. Louis Pioneers slipped again to just 62 wins. Fortunately the GM job there appears to be in good hands now, but can they turn it around after all this futility? Look for them to try and part with some of the strong veterans they have and build toward the future. World Series Philadelphia Sailors 88-66 vs New York Gotham's 98-56 On paper based on record, the Gotham's appeared to have the momentum and the stronger record. But was the record maybe a mirage because the FA was down overall? This is the Sailors 3rd straight World Series appearance having won the 28 Series against the Chicago Chiefs in 5 games. Then coming back but running into the Detroit Dynamo Express in the 29 Series and losing in 7 games. Would this series be another 7 game thriller? In short, yes. After splitting the first 6 games, the Sailors locked down their 2nd World Series title in 3 years by winning game 7 by a final score of 4-3. Sailors CF David Merchant won the World Series MVP honors with a 483 average while hitting 2 homeruns and driving in 6 runs. Attached Images

05-03-2020, 07:14 PM	#52
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	1930 Season Wrap - Cleveland Foresters After another disappointing, but not unexpected, season. Where do the Forester's go from here? There was a growing discontentment among the fans and the frustration was mounting. Why? Well because Cleveland's AAA farm team the Cincinnati Steamers had rolled their way to a 4th straight Union League Championship going 100-40 in the 1930 season. The Cincinnati Mayor and fans were clamoring for a big league team, and even poked fun at the futility of the Forester's woes on the field. This intensified the rivalry between the two Ohio cities. But there was a question that needed to be answered. Why has Cincinnati been so dominate in the Union League, but then it can't translate to the big league field? That is a question that is haunting Cleveland GM Martin constantly. At the end of the day, it really comes down to pitching. Players in the Cleveland organization tend to do well in the minor leagues but then when they come up to Cleveland they struggle. Why is that? Is it that the organization just has a bunch of AAAA players in it that dominate in the minors but simply aren't good enough in the big leagues? Or is it pitching coach Dave Noyes and his approach? After the season ended, either that question has been answered in Cleveland or the front office just needed a scapegoat. Pitching Coach Dave Noyes was fired. In his place, the Foresters promoted the Steamer's pitching coach (since 1926) with hiring 48 year-old Mark O'Rourke to take the reigns. Longtime hitting coach Kasey Dardar retired from coaching at the end of the season as well. In his place again the Forester's promoted from within tabbing the Steamer's hitting coach, Bill Marshall (52) who was with Cincinnati last season and AA Portland the season before. Both coaches are well regarded and Manager Hank Lietzke seems pleased to have them both on the major league staff for next season. The Front Office and coaching staff have a lot of things they need to address this off-season including filling out the minor league staffs and evaluating who will be going to Spring Training. They also have the draft to look forward to as well and then the Rule 5 Draft that Cleveland is always active in. Many rosters decisions will have to be made and several were made right after the end of the season. 1B George Simpson and SP Jack Mast were both DFA. Simpson was selected by Philadelphia on waivers while Mast elected free agency after having not been claimed. The veterans were released because of 40-man roster limits in the case of Mast who was out of options. Simpson was let go after 2 seasons with last year's platoon with 1B Luke Nixon had disastrous results (2 homeruns and less than 35 RBI's between them). Whether this means Nixon will get the job fulltime next season, well I am not too sure about that but we shall see. Here are the team final numbers for 1930 - and the attendance woes at the bottom tell another story that needs to be addressed. Attached Images

05-04-2020, 03:04 PM	#53
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	The Draft is here Quick review of last seasons 1st round picks Its a time that everyone looks forward too, especially those teams trying to improve themselves. Hitting a home run in the draft is essential to building up a league doormat. The Foresters find themselves picking again in the top 5. Last year they had the #3 overall pick but made a trade to #2 and then dropped to #8. At the #8 pick they took then 21-year-old CF Amos LeBlanc out of George Fox College. LeBlanc played primarily in Class A Reading, but also was called up to AA Portland late in the season. He hit 321 combined between the 2 teams and the thought is he might begin the season in AAA Cincinnati, but that depends on who makes the Forester's opening day roster. Center Field was considered a strength by the Cleveland front office, but the disappointing play of Frank Moseley who struggled at not only the major league level but also AAA and ultimately wound up in AA Portland. The Forester's are high though on 23-yea-old CF Leo Clark and if he makes the opening day roster then you will likely see LeBlanc in Cincinnati. The Foresters also had another first round pick last season. With the #16 pick last year they took SP Ben Bernard who was out of Mobile High School. Being only 18 at the time, he was sent to Class C Ottumwa and was injured in early May missing 2 months of the season. He ended up 3-6 with a 3.94 ERA so depending how his off-season workouts and spring go, he might return to start the season at Ottumwa or he might get the call up to Class B Savannah. I know the Forester brass are hoping that he can have a solid year at Class B and then as a 20-year-old next season maybe be ready for Class A-ball. This Year's Draft The Foresters with the #4 pick in the draft had made no moves in the off-season as far as trades went. They did sneak a free agent signing in, when LF Skeeter Gibson, based on age snuck through without going into the draft. The draft board for this year had a couple of names at the top of the list. Cleveland was hoping that somehow one of those names would fall to them. They figured if they had a shot at someone it would have been the second name on the list. C Jack Flint, a 21-year-old catcher out of Lubbock State had a lot they liked in a catcher. Flint though was quickly taken with the #1 overall pick by the St. Louis Pioneers. Our hopes were pretty faint that our overall choice would fall to us. But then Toronto was on the clock but in deep need of pitching (aren't we all), they chose with the 2nd pick P Jim Harris. Then it was Washington's turn. Still feeling disappointed that we couldn't get a deal done with TR Goins with the Eagles front office, I really hoped they didn't get me again with taking my guy. They did take my #3 choice on the board though, with SS Jim Beard. That pick meant it was our turn on the clock. I turned to AGM Ollie Moses and Director of Scouting Dave White and asked them both, "Did he really fall to us?" They both nodded so we quickly before anyone could change their mind sent in our pick to the league office. With the 4th pick in the 1930 FABL amateur draft, the Cleveland Foresters select 3B/1B Johnny Turner from George Fox College. For the 2nd straight season we had selected a player from GF and we were delighted that our #1 on our board was coming to town. Turner (Jr) (age 21) appears to be the type of player that could quickly progress through our minor league system. While he doesn't have tremendous power, he does have a great ability to put the ball wherever he wants to put it. He uses all parts of the field and with his surprising plus speed could turn into a doubles machine. He is an above average fielder at 3rd but his quickest path to the big leagues might be over at 1st base where the Forester's have never really found anyone to play for many years. In his junior year in college he hit 384 (440 OP%) with 8 homers and 57 RBI's. He only stole 5 bases in his career and depending on what we want to do with him, I believe we could coach him to becoming a solid 15+SB guy. We will likely target him to either start in Class A Reading or Class AA Portland depending on how the spring goes. (ooc: Besides his speed, he reminds me of a young Wade Boggs in the future). Attached Images

05-04-2020, 03:29 PM	#54
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Draft Continues Rounds 2 and 3 We felt really lucky with our first round pick in Johnny Turner. Now we turned our attention to the next several rounds. As our pick drew near we had a hand full of players in our top 16 still on the board. Since we had taken another position player with our top pick we were really looking hard at pitching. The weakness in our organization is quality pitching and has been for years. We have had a few hits over the years but we need a whole lot more. So as our turn came up, it came down to two players. One player that we thought might be available for us was SP Chuck Murphy but he was gobbled up at #12 by the Montreal Saints. We had Murphy rated higher than I believe most did (and if Turner, Flint and Beard were all taken ahead of us we might have grabbed him at #4, although that would have been a big stretch most likely). We also liked a lot SP Donnie Scheuermann (#11), and outfields Rip Curry (#13) and Al Horton (#14). So we did have a couple of pitchers rated ahead on our board, but they had been taken. The guy we ended up taking with our 2nd round choice (#20 overall) was the #10 overall choice on our draft board. We went and grabbed a high school senior from San Antonio High School who had committed to the College of San Diego. SP Mel Ennis was our choice and while he is young, he has a lot of upside to develop. Ennis is a left-hander who hits with a 91 mph sinker, and also has a slider and a change. He is going to have to work on all of his pitches, but we believe he will be the #1 SP at Ottumwa this season. As the 3rd round came up we still had 1 player left in our top 16 (1st round assessments) on the board. He was another higher schooler and was out of Seattle, Washington (although he attended Wilkes-Barre high school) and was also committed to the College of San Diego. With the 4th pick in the 3rd Round (#36 overall) the Cleveland Foresters select SP Ike Joyal. The biggest knock on Joyal is his control which we will have to see improvement on. That said a 4-pitch arsenal with a nasty Forkball that he can use to entice weak swings with. He will also open at Ottumwa as we do not want to put either of these young kids up into Class B until they show they can handle C-Ball. Both guys had lesser years in their senior high school seasons than in their sophomore or junior seasons. We just think they have both got a huge upside and it will be our job to bring that out of them. The big issue now will be getting these guys signed. Ennis and Joyal were really looking forward to the California coast and playing in San Diego. Joyal might be especially hard to sign, but we are determined to get it done. Attached Images

05-22-2020, 03:49 PM	#55
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Forester Off-Season Continues The off-season continued in Cleveland and it was a dark snowy sort of time. The team was not viewed to be a contending group primarily because of its pitching staff. Changes were made at the coaching position early in the off-season with hopes that it will translate on the field. Still it was a fairly quiet time for the Forester's The Rule 5 draft came and went. It was fairly quiet but we did pick up a couple of pitchers to take a flyer on. Right now it is basically about trying to find that diamond in the rough. So we took a chance on two. LHP Tom Goldsborough went 14-14 with a 4.53 at AA Atlanta in the Washington organization. Nothing spectacular but he does have 5 pitches in his arsenal, but our scout feels that unless he can control is walks, he will likely not be on the major league team next season. At age 27, one of the older rule 5 players we have taken, it really is a make good audition for him. If he doesn't pan out he will likely be offered back to Washington. LHP Jim Morales was also taken in the rule 5 draft. He is 26 years old and has 4 solid pitches. Unlike Goldsborough, Morales has excellent command, but at best is though of as a reliever. Which isn't a bad thing, as we need quality relievers too. Morales was also taken from the sleeping Washington franchise. On the down side of the rule 5 is when you lose a player that you once had high hopes for. Unfortunately we thought that nobody would want to take a chance on him because of his injury. Yes we had another starting pitcher go down last year and he was promising. He had just turned 23 and since he is out realistically until August, if everything breaks right in his rehab, we thought he would go unnoticed. Who am I talking about? SP Rick Walther who ruptured his UCL on the 4th of July in a start with Cincinnati. While young he had pitched roughly a full season at Cincinnati and was the stablemate of our other SP Karl Johnson . Over the course of the 2nd half of 29 and 1st half of 1930 season's Walther was 14-2 with a 2.33 ERA in 29 starts. He was not greeted well in spring training last year by opposing hitters, but seemed to be figuring it out pretty well. Losing him was a real blunder on my part (essentially I forgot he was unprotected on the DL) but is a big pick up for St. Louis who desperately needs all the help they can get. The other player lost was once a member of the big league club in C Jake Stanley age 28. Jake was our #3 catcher in the organization and is a hugely successful clubhouse leader. He will make a great backup catcher for the NY Stars. He showed surprising power last year in AAA Cincinnati with 15 home runs, but we felt that was more a mirage than something that would continue on, especially in the big leagues. That is probably locker room bulletin board material for Jake, but we wish him good luck. He was a very solid professional. A big trade and unhappy fans Looking around our team and trying to figure out what if anything we could do to add to our team for the future, we decided to shop around a player who I never really thought I would trade, LF Joe Perret. Joe will turn 29 during the season and while he has been very good, injuries have been an issue. The last 2 seasons his end of the season had been derailed both times by different ailments. Maybe the rigors of the OF were showing up. Joe wasn't a great fielder but with his bat go away with some rough innings in LF. He wasn't horrible, but he was far from average as well. His age and the fact that we had Moxie Pidgeon and Mike Williams able to man the corner OF spots made it easier. If we had kept Perret we would have ended up trying an experiment between Pidgeon, Williams, Bobby Allen, Perret and whoever emerges as a top candidate for CF. With Brown and Perret splitting time at 1st base and then sharing some time in the OF, we would have targeted around 125 games for each player in that 5 player mix. Perret had only 1 regular season game at 1B last year but did get some time in the spring as we were looking to see if he could handle 1st better. In the end we had talks with several teams, primarily the NY Gothams and Chicago Cougars who are both front runners for their league titles. In the end we choose New York's deal as it was involving more young prospects than what Chicago was willing to deal. LHSP Dean Astle (age 21) who currently sits at our #8 prospect (#72 overall) in our organization. Astle fits the needs of a future SP likely a couple of seasons down the line. Astle mixes 3 pitches and is searching for a 2nd swing and miss pitch that will likely elevate his effectiveness. He tends to induce a large amount of groundballs and needs a solid defense behind him. He will start the year in Class A Reading, which he honestly isn't thrilled about but will likely earn a quick promotion to AA Portland by the end of May if all goes well. We'd like to get him about 20 AA starts this season and then when we go to spring see if he is ready for AAA after viewing him with the big league club. We feel the future is bright for Dean. 2B John Turner (age 23) ranks as our #4 prospect (#60 overall) and was given a long look in spring training to break camp with the big league club. He spent the 1930 season with the Gotham's AAA Toledo club where he hit 299/394/811 and profiles as an excellent defender and something that Cleveland really hasn't had.....a lead-off hitter. He will start in AAA Cincinnati as the Foresters have several solid 2B (Bob Baker and Russ Franklin) on the big league club, but look for him to come up during the 2nd half of the season either through injury or player movement. The Foresters also have young 21 year-old 2B Brooks Meeks that they are very high on as well. The final player in the trade was 23-year-old RHSP Ben Turner who is ranked 12th (#114 overall) in the Forester's system. Turner has pitched in parts of the last 2 seasons in AA and will start there this season with Portland. Much like Astle, the Forester's would like to move Turner up to AAA by early June and see how he does there. Ideally Turner would be ready for opening day next season in the Forester's rotation. So we traded one of the most popular players of the last half decade, who hit over 350 with 60 HR and almost 300 RBI's in the last 4 seasons for no one that would help this year's club. But again we were looking to the future, but the fans want a winner now. I understand the frustration of the fans, but hopefully they will give these guys a chance to mature and if all goes well we could see all 3 in Forester Green within the next 2-3 seasons. Spring Training is up next

05-22-2020, 04:19 PM	#56
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	Spring Training 1931 - looks like another long year We head to spring training this year hoping to sort out the 23-man roster. Yes there are some locks on the roster to be sure, here's what we know going into spring. LF Moxie Pidgeon (24) moves over to his more natural position of LF with Joe Perret being traded. Pidgeon has excelled with the bat as a surprise 12th round pick in the 1925 draft. In his 2 full seasons he has hit 352 with 53 home runs and 232 RBI's. Pidgeon hit 446 with 6 home runs during spring training. RF Mike Williams (25) burst onto the scene following Perret's injury last season and in slightly less than half a season fashioned a respectable 273 average with 12 homers and 47 RBI's. This was after swatting 33 HR's in half a season at AAA Cincinnati. He struggled some in the spring, but he is locked into RF to start the season. 3B Jake Moore (28) who we thought about trading over the last 3 seasons emerged last year as a solid 3.9 WAR player. Good glove has always been his calling card, but his bat finally exploded for 18 home runs and 98 RBI's with a 298 average. CF/1B Bobby Allen (26) What we know is that Allen's bat will be in the lineup everyday, somewhere. What we don't know yet is will it be primarily at 1B where he had some time down the stretch last season and preformed well or in CF. If the Foresters can find a quality CF who can defend well and hit for 300, then Allen wins the 1B job. His power bat would the be answer for Cleveland at 1B. C Josh Fry (28) Less of a lock but doesn't really have any challengers for the job. Fry is a solid catcher defensively who handles pitchers well and can hit around 300. Not a power guy. but is very likable to the fans and his teammates. The rest of the position player jobs are up for grabs during the spring. 2B, SS, 1B/CF. Backup roles are also available to be had. Spring Training Pitching What we know about the pitching staff heading in. Very little honestly, as there are no virtual locks on the team, but there are a couple of guys who would have to really struggle to not make it. LHSP Karl Johnson (23) really struggled after he came up late to Cleveland last season going 1-4 with an ERA over 7. He was 22-3 with a 2.91 ERA over parts of the last 2 seasons with AAA Cincinnati. It is time to see if the former 6th round pick (1925) out of high school and continue to show promise. He would have to be a dumpster fire during spring to not make the opening day roster. RHSP Eddie Gray (25) has gone a rather unimpressive 13-16 with a 5.42 ERA in the 1929-30 seasons. The Foresters still hope he can show some improvement and become the solid #2-3 starter than imagined. And that is it, no one else is scene as probable to make the pitching staff which means it will be a very open competition. Looking to earn the other 3 SP jobs will be last year's rule 5 pick RHSP Felix Dent (24), RHSP George Barker (29) who had a solid half season in 1929 and a so-so 1930 season. Barker is also the elder statesman on this team. A couple of rookies RHSP Stan Harrison (27) and LHSP Roger Perry (23)(Perry was acquired in the minor league rule 5) will also be given a shot. A youngster from the 1929 draft in 9th round pick RHSP Carl Bragg (22) will also be given a shot. The bullpen will probably be patched together from those that don't make the rotation and a few holdovers like Jake Gunderson, and Eddie Smith. Also keep your eye on LHRP Bill Beier (26) as the sleeper for the stopper role. Spring Training should be exciting with a lot of jobs on the line, and the hope for Cleveland fans that new pitching coach Mark O'Rouke can turn this hodge podge of a mess into something

09-18-2020, 04:56 PM	#57
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	And 1931 was a long season The Foresters slogged their way through a season that was as bad as advertised. GM Martin knew it would be a rough year but was hoping that some of the pieces that the organization has been slowly putting together would finally start to pay off, but that was in the future. For their efforts in the 1931 season, the Forester's would have the #1 pick in the draft. The early odds were that the pick would either be another one of the legendary Barrell family, this time it was SS Harry Barrell, or it would be a polished hitting 2B Freddie Jones out of Central Ohio University. These 2 players were certain to go #1 and #2, it just wasn't know what order that would be. On the season The Forester's went a pathetic (even for them) 60-94 finishing dead last in the Continental League a whopping 31 games behind the Chicago Cougars (pausing for a moment to remember how bad the Cougs were for most of the latter half of the 20's. Hopefully we can get to where they are in a few seasons). On the offensive side of the ball 3B Jake Moore continued to have a steady career putting up solid if unspectacular batting line of 293/358/798 with 9 HR's and 88 RBI's and a WAR of 4.6 and wRC+ 124. OF Moxie Pidgeon led the team in HR's with 23 but had his worst season as a pro hitting just 269. CF Bobby Allen's (Allen was a waiver pick up that has hitting really well for us. He is a bit error prone in CF, but has adjusted to be a steady LF) search for a position seems to have landed him in LF for next year, which will mean moving Moxie to either RF or 1B. Unfortunately while Pidgeon has been a great hitter in most seasons, he can't play in the field very well. The team has tried him at LF, RF and 1B so right now it likely will be 1B unless the team finds someone who can actually be a power bat there. Yes the woes at 1B continued and we discovered that Joe Smith was not the answer to the question. Next up will be Luke Nixon who we acquired from Chicago a year ago. On the Mound There were some bright spots for youngsters on the mound, but you have to look really hard for them. The plan was for this season 31 and the 1932 season to continue to bring up the young kids that we had been drafting and see if they can jell into a solid starting staff. SP Karl Johnson (23) was given the biggest opportunity and turned in a 9-16 season with a 4.47 ERA. While he will never be considered an "ace" of a staff, we believe he is solid #3/#4 SP in a good rotation. SP's Carl Bragg (4-5 4.32 ERA), Roger Perry (3-4 4.33 ERA), Ben Turner (2-0 1.06) and Al Howell (3-12 4.76) are good shots to at least get a few starts in. These guys along with SP Ed Wood and current class A pitcher Dean Astle all figure to be a part of the future in Cleveland. The funny thing about the left-handed hitting Howell, he might be a better C than a pitcher. He likely will be a 2-way player next season and has been penciled in as the backup catcher. Can he handle both? Or will the team move him to the bullpen? It probably will be determined by his catching ability. Below are the season stats for the Foresters along with the 1931 standings for both the CA and FA leagues. Congrats BTW to the Chicago Cougars who beat the New York Gothams in 6 games to win the FABL World Series 4-2. For the Cougars it was the 5th World Series Championship in club history (Something that Cleveland hasn't managed to do in it's 40+ year history). Author Note - After a long absence my schedule will allow me to continue with the Forester story and the team is still just a mediocre as ever) Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 09-18-2020 at 04:58 PM.

09-18-2020, 11:03 PM	#59
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	1932 Draft and Off-season Draft Day - December 1931 We sent our pick by telegraph to the league office. A lot of happy smiles in our office as we took what we think is by far the #1 choice in this draft. The league office then confirmed the pick and it was announced to the league that the Cleveland Foresters selected SS Harry Barrell out of Atlanta High School. We quickly got the contract signed (Bonus $12,000) and he would report to our spring complex in March. GM DD Martin - Obviously we are extremely happy to welcome Harry Barrell to the Forester Family. We feel that with a couple of seasons in the minors he will be manning the SS position for us for a number of years to come. I can't envision him playing for anyone else. The following players were taken in the first 5 Rounds 1-1 SS Harry Barrell (age 18) Atlanta HS $12,000 2-1 C Ed Smith (18) Niagara Falls HS $7,000 3-1 RF Bill Butterfield (21) Garden State University $950 4-1 P Roger Buscher (21) Lubbock State University $900 5-1 RF Les Shearer (21) Lubbock State $650 Overall the Foresters seemed to be pleased with the class and the organization. Harry Barrell was immediately our #1 prospect and was #2 overall in the league. He would begin his career at Class B Savannah and will likely spend a couple of months there and then move up to Class A Reading. Attached Images

09-19-2020, 06:50 PM	#60
DD Martin All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 830	1932 - A season of Improvement? Author note - As I continue to catch up the story we will quickly look at the early season of 1932. Current the league is in the off-season just prior to spring training of 1933. This will probably be a quick 3-4 post recap of the season and the 2 major decisions that the Foresters make. As we head into the spring training in 1932 we had no visions of being able to go from worst to first. In fact our goal was to show improvement of course but we wouldn't be disappointed if we got another top end draft pick. While I won't call it tanking because we were in a definite building mode. I can't call it rebuilding, since you have to have accomplished something to rebuild it. We made the decision early that we would bring up our young SP from the start of the season. Our rotation would like this to open the season. SP Karl Johnson (24) 9-16 4.47 ERA 30 starts 1932 SP Roger Perry (24) 3-4 4.33 ERA 7 starts 1932 SP Ben Turner (24) 2-0 1.06 ERA 2 starts 1932 (AAA 8-2 2.55 ERA 14GS) SP Carl Bragg (23) 4-5 4.32 ERA 18 starts 1932 In the #5 spot we decided to go with George Barker (31) who had in Cleveland in 1930-1931 going 17-25 4.68 ERA in 60 starts. We had thought about maybe going with SP/C Al Howell, but his hitting and catching had caught our eye so much that we decided to let him be primarily a position player. Also we consider SP Ed Wood (23) for the spot but wanted to give him a few innings at AAA Cincinnati since he had only been as high as AA Portland in the prior season. In going with such a young rotation we decided it was time to see what we really had. Worst thing that could happen was that they wouldn't be ready and we would have a top 4 draft pick. I had my eye on two players in particular, especially Henry Hudson University SP Curly Jones. He was on the top of our draft board even at that time 10 months before the next amateur draft. With the position players, here was our opening day lineup and their 1931 stats. CF Jake Matheson 246/341/989 65-140 (AAA GWL Seattle) 1B Luke Nixon 420/500/1.100 1-5 50 AB (Cleveland) RF Moxie Pidgeon 269/340/786 23-92 (Cleveland) LF Bobby Allen 276/336/786 16-69 (Cleveland) 3B Jake Moore 293/358/798 9-88 (Cleveland) SS Erv Smith 260/316/654 1-40 (Cleveland) 2B Brooks Meeks 273/333/733 1-9 55AB (Cleveland) C Al Howell 200/269/587 0-3 85AB (Cleveland) As you can see many of the same characters that had been around, but there were a few new additions. CF Jake Matheson was a minor league trade we worked out with Seattle. He launched 65 home runs with Seattle and felt that if he could even hit 20 with us that it would be a great start to his career. 1B Luke Nixon was the next in line to occupy 1B. He had shown some power in the minors but was a pretty good hitter and RBI guy. He was going to be given the full time shot to show that we need not look any further for a 1B of the future. SS Erv Smith coming back from injury was going to be given the everyday SS job and see how he could do. A solid but not spectacular fielder, if he could hit 270 with a 330 OBP we would be happy with him until either minor league phenom Harry Barrell (#2 overall prospect)or George Dawson (#5 overall prospect) take over the position for the next decade. 2B Brooks Meeks had emerged as our top 2B prospect and we decided that even though he was only 22, we would get him out there. He hit 283 at AAA Cincinnati in 1931 so there really wasn't much more he was going to get out of hitting there another year. Finally C Al Howell was a surprise to me to see in the starting lineup on opening day ahead of veteran backstop Josh Fry. Fry was coming off a lackluster season in 1931 hitting only 236. His defense had also dropped up quite a bit and even though he was only 29, the mileage of catching seemed to be catching up with him. In talking with our manager Hank Leitzke, he felt that he would likely give Fry more off-days but that he was still the #1 catcher. So how did we do in April coming out of spring training? Honestly I was surprised to see us at 9-9 and in 3rd place in the CA. Of course we were already 6 games behind the Chicago Cougars who were the easy pre-season favorites. It wasn't a shock we were 6 games behind the Cougars since we had played 8 games against them and were 1-7. We were 8-2 against everyone else. May had us going 14-17 with a 23-26 record overall 11 games out of first. We were in 5th place and 11 games out, so if there were any fantasies about a Forester pennant in 32, they were quickly thrown out the window. In the first two months 2B Meeks had moved into the lead-off spot in the order hitting a very respectable 286. 1B Luke Nixon had struggled so badly hitting only 225 that we brought up the #1 overall pick in the 1925 draft, Alex Thompson. It was really just an opportunity to give Nixon a break as Thompson had not lived up to the hype of our former Director of Scouting in that first draft. He did however had hit a very respectable 325+ in his over 6 minor league season. Not much power as he had hit a total of 26 home runs in those minor league seasons, but we wanted to see if he could do anything before calling him a 4A player. SS Erv Smith had gotten off to a great start hitting 321 in the first 2 months of the season and was showing no ill effects of his injury from last year. We figured we'd show case him and that either at the trade deadline or in the off-season someone would want to take a shot at him if he was still hitting around 300 and being an above average SS defensively. CF Jake Matheson who started the season in the lead-off spot had not adjusted well to major league pitching. After clubbing 65 home runs at AAA, he was hitting a lowly 216 with 2 homers in his first 2 months, moving down from lead-off to 8th in the order. On the starting pitching side through May here was our rotation and their season to date numbers. Carl Bragg 3-5 4.77 Ben Turner 4-5 4.20 Roger Perry 5-2 2.64 Karl Johnson 4-4 3.50 Ed Wood 1-3 5.56 Roger Perry had emerged as our #1 starter. Our team had been high on him since acquiring him in a trade with the NY Stars in the pre-season of 1931. He was going to be among the top starting pitchers in the CA all year but would slip a bit in September (more on that later). Ed Wood had also been called up with George Barker proving that he just wasn't a big league starting pitcher anymore. Barker only last 3 starts and was 0-2 with an ERA of almost 9 and was sent to Cincinnati before ultimately being DFA. He would remain in the organization in 1932 but would pitching at AA Portland and AAA Cincinnati. Next up - June and a shocking trade on July 4th Attached Images Last edited by DD Martin; 09-19-2020 at 06:53 PM.