A Fledgling “Free Agency” Movement in the Post-War World

[jksander]

Home in San Francisco, Dominic [DiMaggio] had been having some practical thoughts besides the philosophical ones. He also looked forward to being back with his core teammates, but after returning from the fight to defeat the Evil Axis, he wanted to fight for the rights of players -- starting with himself. Decades before it became official in baseball, Dominic, after discussing his position with [his financial manager and brother] Tom, declared himself a free agent.

He wrote a letter to the Red Sox brass explaining that after spending three years in military service and not signing any baseball contracts, he didn’t belong to anyone.

- Tom Clavin, The DiMaggios, p. 255

What if, after World War II, the owners of Major League teams had decided to eliminate the Reserve Clause and start a rudimentary form of free agency? The idea doesn’t seem far fetched based on how Dominic DiMaggio reacted to returning to the Boston Red Sox. According to Clavin’s excellent biography The DiMaggios, Dom’s holding out wound up getting him the concession of an increased salary with the addition of benchmarks for raises based on team attendance, something that had never been given to a player. Though he became a leader in the “Player’s Union” movement, his postwar move simply didn’t draw in the other players who were also returning from the War ... but what if it had?

I’m starting this dynasty write-up based on the assumption that, following the end of WWII in September of 1945, the owners of teams in both the National League and American League met during winter meetings and agreed to a new system, voluntarily abolishing the reserve clause. In its place, they voted in a system where a player, having reached 10 full years of service time, could apply to become a full free agent, establishing an arbitration system that would kick in after five years of service. Minor league players would also earn free agency after the same 10-year service period. This system would allow veteran players to at least get one opportunity to “choose his destiny,” while preventing teams from having to massively shake up their rosters constantly as soon as players emerged as stars.

The owners agreed that, starting after the 1946 season a rookie draft would take place, replacing the “bonus baby” free-for-all that existed at the time. Once a team drafted a player, that player would be theirs until such time as he reached his 10 years of full service, and would remain on a rookie scale contract until reaching arbitration after five years. This compromise kept owners happy with a system still heavily weighted in their favor, while giving players returning from defending their country a sense that they too had some control over where their careers would take them.

The game has a few “top prospects” still unassigned as of March 17, 1946, and I’ve chosen to assign them to the real life teams they debuted on. So Bobby Avila will go to Cleveland, Whitey Lockman will go to the Giants and Joe Nuxhall will go to the Reds. Journeymen like Luis Olmo, Nap Reyes and Arky Vaughn, who did not play for a MLB team in 1946 and who are all 26 or older, will remain free agents, to be signed by teams as they see fit.

So what does this mean for teams heading into 1946, you might ask ... who all will be eligible for free agency in the ’46 offseason should their teams not sign them? Short answer ... not a whole lot. But here’s a list of players of 3.5-star status or better (100% accuracy, scouting off) who will be negotiating for their long term futures:

Brooklyn Dodgers: 1B Augie Galan, RF Dixie Walker, 2B Billy Herman
Chicago Cubs: LF Phil Cavarretta
Chicago White Sox: SS Luke Appling
Detroit Tigers: 1B Hank Greenberg
New York Giants: C Ernie Lombardi, RF Mel Ott
Philadelphia Phillies: 1B Frank McCormick
Washington Senators: LF Jeff Heath

That’s ten players to keep an eye on as we go through the first season of this new experiment, with the knowledge that teams will have to keep an eye on their other veterans if they want to attempt to stave off future major free agency exodus in the future. That will be especially important since there will be no compensation for lost players ... it’s up to owners to decide how much they value keeping a core together.

[jksander]

OOC Note: Obviously there may be other players who got overlooked ... I had only the "pending FA" tab to look at, and it's clear that players like Dutch Leonard, age 36, should be eligible in the offseason as well if they don't sign extensions, but did not show up for Washington on that tab. But this should give a good idea of how the system is set up.

I'm still trying to decide which team I will take over, and this will be another long-term slow-simming dynasty, so if you're into it feel free to follow

[jksander]

1946 Season

July 31, 1946: News of baseball’s new “free agency” opportunities for players has been the dominant source of league-wide gossip, but once the season got underway it was all about the games themselves and the battle to become the first post-war World Champion. By the time we reached the trade deadline, the Yankees (68-33) held a 13 game lead over the Red Sox in the AL, with Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago in a four-way battle for a distant second place. Over in the NL, St. Louis (59-40) led the 53-47 Dodgers by six and a half, with Chicago and Boston trailing nine games back at 51-50 each.

A few big deals have come through as owners tentatively try to stave off players who are on the verge of free agency:

- On March 29th, Dixie Walker signed a three-year deal worth $1 65,000 to stay with the Dodgers. The 35-year-old is earning $18,000 this year, but will get a raise to $55,000 per year over the three-year deal, with a clause promising him the starting right fielder spot, along with $6,500 for an MVP win and $980 as an All Star bonus. Thus far in 1946 he has batted .307 with 22 doubles, nine triples, four homers and 40 runs batted in, giving him 3.1 wins above replacement ... and yes, he got that All-Star bonus!

- On April 30th, the Dodgers got busy again, offering an extension to Augie Galan that was even richer ... $300,000 spread over the next five seasons, including a vesting option in 1951, so Galan will go from $19,000 this year to $60,000 per year starting in 1947, and if he plays 130 games in 1950 he’ll keep earning that amount through his 39th birthday! He has the league’s first No Trade Clause, and earns $4,500 for an MVP win and $1,200 for any All Star appearances (he made one this year) ... he’s hit .301 this year with 25 doubles, 48 RBIs and seven stolen bases, netting him 3.4 wins above replacement as he and Walker try to get the Dodgers ahead of St. Louis in the NL pennant chase.

- The final big deal has gone to yet another Dodger ... this time Brooklyn signed veteran infielder Billy Herman to a two year deal worth $25,000 per year, a deal they made official on July 9th. Herman, 37, has played in 95 games and hit just .240, but his defense has been valuable to the team. But of the three, this is the deal that made the least waves.

September 30, 1946: The Dodgers were locked in battle with St. Louis all year, and it came down to the final day of the season, when the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves 11-6 and the Cardinals lost to the Chicago Cubs 10-2 ... both teams playing at home, giving the Dodgers, with their 90-64 record, a pennant win by one game over the 89-65 Cards who had literally led the entire season. That’s brutal! The Cubs, at 73-81 and in sixth place, were perfectly happy playing postseason spoiler, and they helped set up a Dodgers / Yankees subway series as a result. The Yankees (99-55) won their league in a ho-hum season, with the Chicago White Sox finishing a distant 16-games back at 83-71. Boston, an early favorite, was pretty much out of the race in May, but had shown signs of life until early August. They finished third, at 82-72, tied with Cleveland. The hapless St. Louis Browns (60-94) won the distinction of being the worst team in either league, which means they’ll get the top amateur pick in the draft this winter.

There have been no other extensions to contracts ahead of free agency since the trade deadline.

October 10, 1946: The Dodgers won the series’ first two games by 11-3 and 7-1 margins over the Yankees while playing on their home field. And on the 5th of October they stole game three in the House that Ruth Built, beating the Yanks 1-0 in a game that featured even hitting among the teams but better pitching by far via Brooklyn. The Yankees went on to win the next two games 5-2 and 10-3, sending the series back to Brooklyn for an improbable game six, but the Dodgers won it 6-4, breaking a 1-1 tie with three runs in the bottom of the fourth and never looking back. Augie Galan had five hits and three runs batted in, setting a new NL playoff record, and he was named World Series MVP, hitting 11-25 with three doubles and five RBIs, a .440 clip with a 1.041 OPS.

On October 6th, the Detroit Tigers came to an agreement with “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg that keeps the 35-year-old first baseman in Detroit for the next three seasons. Greenberg earned $15,000 this year, but will get $34,800 each year through 1949, along with $4,200 for an MVP and $840 for an All Star appearance. The $104,400 deal looks paltry compared to what Walker and Galan got with the Dodgers, but the Tigers were 78-76 and finished 21 games back in the AL race .. so keeping Greenberg’s 4.5 WAR (he hit .255 with 25 doubles and 38 homers with 114 RBIs) was important, but so was keeping the budget under control. Or that’s what the owner will tell you, though the Tigers are sitting on a mountain of cash right now.

Yesterday the New York baseball Giants signed 37-year-old right fielder Mel Ott to a two year extension: $40,000 next year and another $40K if he makes 520 plate appearances in ’47 ... an unlikely prospect, considering he only had 418 at-bats this year, hitting .263 with 16 doubles, 25 homers and 69 RBIs (though he put up a whopping 6.1 WAR, thanks to his excellent fielding (a +9.8 zone rating and just four errors all season).
 
Finally, today the Cubs made a deal with Stan Hack, keeping the 36-year-old third baseman playing at Wrigley for the next three seasons at $29,400 per year with a $340 All Star bonus (he hasn’t been one since 1945). Hack put up 2.8 WAR this year with a .283 average, hitting 19 doubles and batting in 52 runs with six stolen bases while providing a modicum of defensive prowess from the hot corner. Nothing particularly impressive, but clearly the Cubs wanted to keep “Smiling Stan” around a while longer for his veteran leadership.

The draft pool will be announced on October 16, 1946, with the draft taking place on November 15th.

[jksander]

October 11, 1946: The rumors are over, and all speculation is finished, as the St. Louis Browns, the MLB’s punching bag of late, have finally found a manager and GM to take the helm. Niccolo “Nico” Lazzeri, age 29, has taken the thankless job just a month or so out from the team choosing first in the first-ever Major League Amateur Draft. Lazzeri, who is the American born son of Italian immigrants who came to Chicago just three decades ago from Salerno, will become the youngest front office leader in the game right out of the gate. And he’s going to have a tough road to hoe ... though the team reportedly has cash to spend, he’ll be working for a demanding owner who has shown little signs that he’s willing to do what needs done to field a winner. While the Cardinals, who share Sportsmans Park with the hapless Browns, have found much success in the baseball world, the Browns have just one pennant win since 1888, and it took place in 1944 when the bulk of the league’s players were off fighting in World War II. Outside of the War seasons of ’44 and ’45, they haven’t finished less than 10 games back since 1922 when they were 93-61 and lost the pennant by a single game.

“I know I have my work cut out for me,” Lazzeri told the local assembled press. “But I’ve spoken with Vern Stevens, who has been the young leader of the team over the last half decade, and I’ve assured him that I want to build a team here that can make our city proud just like the Cardinals have done. It’s going to take work, both in this new draft and via free agency, but I’m ready to dig in and fight for this team and its fans. We’re going to prove that more than one team can win games in St. Louis.”

Owner Kelly Nau has made it clear he expects this team to be able to play .500 ball, though with what roster remains to be seen. The Browns had attendance of fewer than 9,000 fans per game last season, falling short of 700,000 attendance during a season where the Cardinals packed more than 1.5 million fans into Sportsmans Park while the Browns were on the road. The team spent $290,000 on its roster, which was comparable to other teams of its stature, but with players now having more freedom to demand “big money” as free agents, will they be able to compete as an organization to get the players needed to field an actually competitive roster? Only time will tell.

Babe Dahlgren remains the team’s only major player who could become a free agent this offseason ... Dahlgren, a first baseman, hit .294 with a double and an RBI in 21 games as a pinch-hitter, so it is unlikely that Lazzeri will be focused on bringing him back. More likely, the focus is on planning for the upcoming draft and then hoping that ownership will free up some money for any free agents who do end up declaring in the next couple weeks. But he’ll be working with one of the league’s worst overall front office, full of unproven, inexperienced baseball minds, and the team’s hitting and pitching coaches as it stands are among the dregs that all other major league teams have let pass by. It’s worth noting, however, that the group has shown good morale and it may be worth keeping them around in this “transition year” to keep the team’s young core energized.

[jksander]

October 16, 1946: I’ve signed my first player of my tenure as GM of the Browns! Tom Seats became a minor league free agent after being let go by the Dodgers, and we needed veteran leadership for our pitching, so we’ve signed the 36-year-old left handed pitcher to a minor league deal worth $10,000 if he gets promoted to the major league roster. Right now we have him set to start with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens, but it’s very likely he’ll make the jump to the bigs in time for spring training. Last year with AAA San Diego he put up a 14-16 record with a 3.96 ERA, striking out 139 batters and putting up 5.8 wins above replacement. And though he’s all control, most of his best stuff now in his past, he still has a great changeup and the stamina to throw it and his fastball and curve while holding runners on base at a big league level.

The draft pool has been officially revealed, and we have a lot of options for our first round pick ... 27-year-old Diomedes Olivio is the best player who is ready to start now, with a five pitch mix and incredible stuff, and he’d be an ace from opening day. But he’s 27 ... and if we take him now, we’d have to pass up younger guys like Harvey Haddix, Bob Rush, Roy Sievers, Curt Simmons or Joe Adcock, all of whom have higher potential than him to become great players but at extreme development risk. Olivo, who hails from the Dominican Republic, may be too good for us to pass up, considering we need to build a team that can compete on the field now before we can focus too much on drafting risky players for our future.

We’re still awaiting the final declarations of free agents following the final negotiation stretch for teams to extend their players’ contracts. At that point maybe we can luck out and get someone from one of the big teams to add to our 1947 roster.
 
November 3, 1946: Salary Arbitration has begun, and we’ve offered all our minor leaguers automatic extensions while we figure out the direction of this organization long term. We offered Joe “Dode” Schultz an $11,500 contract, based off his .300 hitting and 3.0 WAR for us at catcher last season. Jack Kramer (7-15, 4.60 ERA, 2.7 WAR) got a $9,000 offer at age 28, and Bob Muncrief (8-15, 5.28 ERA, 2.2 WAR) got a $13,750 offer at age 30. Two veteran players, Al Hollingsworth and B abe Dahlgren, will be allowed to become free agents, as neither looks to be above replacement level for us, and that really says something.

Awards announcements begin November 11th, starting with Gold Gloves, followed by Reliever of the Year (Nov 12), Platinum Stick awards (Nov 13), Rookie of the Year (Nov 14), Manager of the Year (Nov 15), the Cy Young Award for Pitcher of the Year (Nov 16) and the MVP Award (Nov 17). Arbitration hearings are scheduled for November 24th, and free agency will officially begin on November 26th, just a couple days before Thanksgiving! Hopefully a few team leaders will be turkeys and allow players to fall through the cracks for us to feast upon as we head toward a new year!

November 7, 1946: Muncrief, Kramer and Schultz all signed their one year contracts without taking it to arbitration. Aside from a few minor league holdouts, we’ve done what we set out to do. And when those minor leaguers get free agency, we’ll move to fill the spots with players who want to be here.

November 15, 1946: It’s draft day, and after a lot of internal discussion we decided to go with center fielder Richie Ashburn with the number one pick, choosing his high potentials in pure contact and defensive ability over a quick roster fix ... the 19-year-old will definitely need some development time. In the second round, however, we did decide to take Diomedes Olivo, who will come into the league ready to be a number one starter ... we couldn’t risk waiting for later rounds and miss out on a guy who can play for us now. The rest of the draft was pretty uneventful ... twenty-three more rounds to find minor league development players. We’ve offered Ashburn $7,614 as the #1 pick, and all our other players have offers on the table befitting their talent levels.

We got Ashburn, but other top guys are worth noting as well ... the three top pitching prospects went to the Senators (Curt Simmons), the Reds (Bob Rush) and the Cubs (Harvey Haddix), though the Giants seem particularly happy with their young hurler Whitey Ford who is all stuff, no control at this point. The Tigers are pleased with second baseman Nellie Fox, and the Cardinals took shortstop Johnny Logan who, even as a long-term development risk to reach his full potentials does look ready to at least play major league defense. It’ll be interesting to see how our guy fares against all theirs in the grand scheme of things.

We’re just a couple weeks away now from the league’s first real run of free agency bidding. Stay tuned!

[jksander]

November 17, 1946: I haven’t put much emphasis on announcing awards, but I will mention that the AL MVP award went to Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox. “The Kid” batted .342 with 35 doubles, 29 homers and 119 RBIs, putting up 7.8 WAR as he dominated pitchers across the league. He only made $7,500 in 1946, but his salary is expected to skyrocket when he reaches arbitration after this coming season. But he’s been open about how frustrated he is that he won’t be able to push Boston to the limit on free agency extension talks until he’s well into his 30’s. Lord knows we’d love to have him in St. Louis, though that’s a laugher ... no way we could afford what he’d demand on an open market.

In the NL, Stan Musial won MVP for the Cardinals, and he’s in a similar boat, though only 25 ... he too will be able to go to arbitration after the 1947 season, but he’s likely to draw even more than Williams if push comes to shove -- this year he hit .333 with 41 doubles, 15 triples, 14 homers and 108 RBIs, and he put up nearly nine games of WAR, thanks to having what the Kid lacks ... strong defensive ability. Knowing what I know about ownership on the other side of this city, there’s no way it’ll come to that, “The Man” will get paid when the time comes to stay a Cardinal if they intend to compete for additional titles. I’d bet my career on it.

November 26, 1946: It’s the big day ... free agents have officially filed, and there are some big bats on the table, including 30-year-old Phil Cavarretta, Luke Appling, Arky Vaughn, and Jeff Heath. The biggest name among pitchers is 37-year-old Dutch Leonard, and he’s definitely on our radar right now for his control and ability to help our very raw, young pitching core. We’re definitely looking to make a few moves, if the price is right, but we’ll have to be careful not to get drawn into a bunch of bidding wars over players we have no hopes of getting.

December 11, 1946: The Washington Senators made the first big FA splash, signing 31-year-old outfielder Jeff Heath to a five year deal worth a total of $170,000 ... $34,000 per year with a fifth year team option that has just an $8,000 buyout. Heath hit .277 last year with 23 doubles 14 homers and 85 RBIs while playing for the White Sox. The deal is notable because Washington essentially loaned Heath to the White Sox last year in exchange for bullpen help and center fielder Jim Delsing last July, and when the Sox decided not to sign him, the Senators saw an opportunity to bring him back. But they’re now paying him a lot more than he was making before. We’ll see how that works out for them in the long term.
 
December 20, 1946: We took outfielder Dick Whitman from the Dodger’s minor league system in the Rule 5 draft, selecting the 26-year-old first overall after a season where he put up a .339 average, 24 doubles, 18 homers and 101 RBIs while playing for the Montreal Royals. That was our only pick in what was an otherwise weak pool of players. Only the Phillies picked three players, with the Athletics and Senators taking two each.

We currently have offers out on multiple players, but are reaching our limit and may not be able to continue our bidding if their asks continue to rise beyond current offers without express input from ownership.

January 3, 1947: In a huge deal, we’ve officially signed legendary pitcher Dutch Leonard to a five year deal worth potentially $291,000, though the fourth year has a player option and the fifth is a team option. He’ll earn $57,000 per year for the first three years, and can opt in to a fourth at $60,000 ... we can opt OUT of his fifth year at the same value by buying him out at $25,000. The deal includes $800 per All Star appearance and $3,400 if he should win a Cy Young, and he has a no-trade agreement, coming to St. Louis essentially to play out the twilight of his career. Last year with the Washington Senators he put up an 18-15 record and 3.37 ERA while pitching 296.2 innings. He contributed 6.5 wins above replacement, and his control was impeccable. With Diomedes Olivo as our ace and Leonard pitching second in the rotation, I’m really starting to like our odds ... especially if we can firm up some defense to back those two up.

January 13, 1947: The dominos of our offseason plans are falling properly into place, as Arky Vaughn has agreed to a four year, $200,000 deal that will pay him $50,000 per season through the 1950 season! Vaughn hit .250 last year in Boston and only batted in 42 runs off 22 doubles, five triples and three homers, but his strong fielding helped put him 3.4 wins above replacement, and with us now planning to move Vern Stephens over to third (his more comfortable position) we’re going to have a much-improved defensive infield (with our adaptable 30-year-old journeyman Ellis Clary helming second). The fans are loving having a guy of Arky’s renown coming to play for us, and suddenly fan interest is on the rise for a team that hasn’t been able to put bottoms in seats properlty for years.

January 14, 1947: Today we completed our offseason moves with a big deal and a HUGE deal. First, right fielder Wally Moses, formerly of the Chicago White Sox, signed a three year deal worth $50,000 in 1947 and 1948, with a player option for a third year at $45,000 along with $500 All Star bonuses. Moses batted .263 last year with 32 doubles and 79 RBIs, putting up 4.5 WAR on solid right field defense, and the 36-year-old said he felt slighted by the White Sox’s unwillingness to even consider extending him to let him retire in Chicago. He’s a born leader, and expressed excitement about helping build a clubhouse culture for a team that has had none in the past.

Then the big deal came in ... Chicago Cubs legend Phil Cavarretta came into the offseason saying that, at 31, he had little interest in doing this “free agency” thing again. He wanted a long term deal that would make it worth playing in a new city, and he wanted it in writing, so he could play out his career without worrying about money. He was the player we put the most time into “bidding for” ... we finally won him over with a contract that runs eight years, starting at $63,000 and finishing at $70,000 each during the final four years. The total value is $539,000 spread over the eight seasons, and it includes a team buyout option on the 1954 season, at $25,000 ... he does NOT get a no-trade clause, but will earn $1,000 for any All Star appearances and $5,000 if he wins an MVP. Winner of the 1945 MVP, Cavarretta followed it up in ’46 by batting .298 for the Cubs, including 27 doubles and 53 RBIs. He had a +7.1 zone rating in left field, committing just four errors all year in the position, which helped him to 4.5 wins above replacement.

All told we’ve added 18.2 WAR during this offseason, and we’ve committed slightly over $100,000 in salary that will go on this year’s books. But our owner has said if we’re going to dip our toe into this changing world of free agency, we might as well do it this year when other teams are potentially skittish about taking risks on veteran contracts. Based on our signings, preseason ticket sales are up nearly 30 percent, and we’re on track to average 13,000 fans per game, which would keep us on track to meet owner goals in that regard.

Whatever happens, our fans are going to see a vastly different hitting lineup than before, with Vaughn in the leadoff spot, Cavarretta batting third ahead of Stephens and first-baseman Wally Judnich, and with Wally Moses batting sixth. Our bullpen remains an open question mark, but we’ve added two key starters, and our other three, Jack Kramer, Bob Muncrief and and Fred Sanford, were all playing above replacement level last year despite pitching with no offensive help.

So I think we’re on track for a solid season ... come along for the ride, why don’t ya?

[jksander]

January 22, 1947: Goose Goslin was officially inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 93.7 percent of the vote from the national press! Earl Averill came close, with 72.5 percent, but nobody else broke the 60 percent mark.

February 7, 1947: Rumors have abounded about various MLB teams looking to break the color barrier by signing either league’s first players from the Negro Leagues to play in the majors. While I can’t get into specifics, we’ve been negotiating with several players, and are definitely hopeful that St. Louis will be the first to break this artificial barrier, reaching out to a part of our community that has been long overlooked.

February 16, 1947: Two of the state of Pennsylvania’s three teams made huge signings this afternoon, officially breaking the color barrier:

- Satchel Paige, 40, signed a three-year $168,000 deal that will bring him to Pittsburgh to play for the Pirates. Paige will earn $56,000 yearly and has a no-trade clause in his contract, having gone 18-6 with a 2.25 ERA last season while pitching 208.1 innings for the Kansas City Monarchs, striking out 161 with hitters only getting .258 off his pitches. He immediately makes Pittsburgh, which went 73-81 last year, a serious threat even at his advanced age, and their fan interest is through the roof. Paige knew he was only going to have a few years as a viable major league pitcher, and he got the deal he wanted, three years of guaranteed money before risking arbitration.

- Meanwhile, center fielder Willard Brown signed a one year deal with Philadelphia’s Athletics worth $63,000. But his contract will be handled under the existing arbitration rules, so because he only has 135 days of “professional” time, for his first five seasons he will automatically earn that salary, and the 31-year-old will then be under arbitration control through 1956. Well worth it, since he hit .392 last year for the Monarchs with 25 doubles, 12 triples, 31 homers and 115 RBIs, giving him an incredible 9.0 WAR. We had him in our sights and he got away ... all over a few thousand dollars, something I suspect I will regret, since he’ll be playing against us 21 games a year.

February 20, 1947: It’s official -- our St. Louis Browns have signed second baseman Jackie Robinson to a $71,000 one year contract that makes him just the third black ballplayer to join the major leagues. Robinson will earn that same contract amount through 1951 and will then become arbitration eligible. The financial world of baseball has shifted, and our team is embracing the risk, spending money now in hopes that we can bring the fans in and make it financially viable for our club to keep doing so in the future. Robinson spent last season with the Kansas City Monarchs (in 43 games he hit .395 with 15 doubles and 39 RBIs) and the AAA-level Montreal Royals (playing 149 games, he hit .386 with 41 doubles, 10 triples, 31 homers and an incredible 162 RBIs), and he completes our infield in a huge way, bringing excellent defense and a bat that can’t be beat.

February 21, 1947: The floodgates have been unleashed, as teams across the league continue to sign up players from the Negro Legaues ahead of the start of spring training:

- Chicago’s Cubs announced the signing of 42-year-old shortstop Willie Wells, who will earn $46,400 this year on a one-year deal that will likely pay him the same rate until he retires, considering his advanced age. Last year for the Baltimore Elite Giants he hit .291 with 11 doubles and 52 RBIs, while playing elite defense as a shortstop.

- The Philadelphia Phillies fired a salvo against their crosstown rivals, by signing third baseman Ray Dandridge to a deal worth $41,000 this season, the 33-year-old having hit .365 last year for the Elite Giants in Baltimore while making himself indispensible from the hot corner defensively.

February 22, 1947: Washington’s Senators signed 35-year-old catcher Josh Gibson to a $61,000 one-year contract, shocking everyone who thought the Pittsburgh Homestead Grays legend would stay in Pennsylvania. Gibson hit .336 last year with 14 doubles, 44 homers and 128 runs batted in, putting up 7.9 wins above replacement in a very competive playing environment. And with the Yankees, Red Sox, Guardians, Tigers and White Sox so far choosing not to sign NeL players, the American League is going to be potentially a very different battlefield in a few months’ time.

The flurry of major signings seems to be waning, and in a few weeks we’ll get to finally see the action leave the front office and take the competition onto the diamond.

[jksander]

March 10, 1947: Spring training officially begins today, and though we’ve signed many great players this offseason, a reminder of our previous doormat status is that we’ve only got 34 players on our 40-man and do not have any intention of inviting more to the party this spring. The good thing is that we won’t have to deny players their playing time to prove their worth -- when we cut our rosters down to 25 in a few weeks, we’ll know we have our best players on the field ready to get this team out of the American League basement.

Here’s our spring training roster:

Lineup
C - Joe Schultz, Frank Mancuso, Les Moss
1B - Wally Judnich*
2B - Jackie Robinson, Johnny Berardino, Ellis Clary, Johnny Lucadello, Ben Steiner
3B - Vern Stephens, Bob Dillinger
SS - Arky Vaughn**
LF - Phil Cavarretta, Joe Grace, Paul Lehner, Don Lenhart, Glenn McQuillen, Mayo Smith, Dick Whitman
CF - Harry Walker, Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte
RF - Wally Moses, Al Zarilla

* 3B Bob Dillinger and LF Joe Grace will be playing for a chance to back him up out of position
** 2B Ellis Clary will be playing to most likely be his primary backup at short.

Starters
L Diomedes Olivo
R Dutch Leonard
R Jack Kramer
R Bob Moncrief
R Fred Sanford
L Tom Seats

Bullpen
L Sam Zoldak (MR)
R Al Jurisich (MR)
R Ned Garner (LR)
L Stan Ferens (LR)

Of our many left fielders competing, it’s going to be a matter of who gets to stay up and be a potential pinch hitter, and who is not major league ready at all (McQuillen and Smith in particular are playing for their very baseball future, as if they don’t make the team, they’re likely trade bait at best.

We’ll play thirty exhibition games starting today against Washington and ending on April 10th against the Yankees. Official opening day is April 14th, but we’ll open our season with a three-game home series against the Tigers April 15-17.

[jksander]

March 10, 1947 (cont’d): Our spring gameplan is to play our first seven games and then start making cuts on offense (particularly in the outfield where we have a glut of players competing for limited spots) ... and by the end of April I want to have us pretty close to our final 25-man roster, so by that point we’re able to get our starters ready for full games. We have ten pitchers competing for what will likely be seven spots ... four starters, a spot starter, a long reliever and a middle reliever ... but that will allow us to spread out innings during these spring games, with the aim to start making pitching cuts later in April. We only have to cut down from 35 to 25, so unlike a lot of teams with more players competing for fewer spots in the roster, we don’t have to make any particularly dramatic reductions. So I see this as a month to get to know my team and really figure out what we have ... are there real holes in our roster that can be filled by trades? I’d rather find out now than later.

In our first spring training game, Diomedes Olivo looked great throwing, striking out the side in the bottom of the second, and our first run of the spring was scored by Jackie Robinson, who tripled in the top of the third and then came home off a sac-fly by Harry Walker to give us a 1-0 lead over the Washington Senators. The Senators got a couple runs off him in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead, but he looked good in those five innings, with just four hits and two walks for two earned runs, striking out seven on 77 pitches. We tied the score in the top of the eighth (don’t tell these guys the games don’t matter, they came out ready to fight) thanks to an RBI single by Joe Grace, and reliever Sam Zoldak got the final out in the bottom of the ninth and then singled to start the top of the 10th inning, taking third off a single by Johnny Lucadello. Zoldak would score the go-ahead run when Bob Dillinger hit into a 3-6 fielder’s choice, and he won it on a double play in the bottom of the inning as we took the victory 3-2. We played 25 players in the game, and 21 of them at least had an at-bat -- as a team we outhit them 8-7, led by Dillinger with a hit, a run and an RBI, and by Robinson who had a hit and a run. Our four relievers got through five innings without a run scoring, so I was very happy with what I saw in the early going.

March 11, 1947: We played the Yankees this afternoon, with Dutch Leonard facing off against Red Munger, who last year played for the Cardinals and put up a 16-10 record and 3.12 ERA through 224.2 innings before being traded to the Yanks in November. New York took the lead in the bottom of the first off an E3 error, Tommy Henrich scoring for the Bronx Bombers. They added on in the fourth with an RBI single by Marvin Williams, but in the top of the fifth Al Zarilla reached on an error and, replaced by Bob Dillinger as a pinch runner, we scored after Dillinger stole third and came home off a double by Joe Schultz -- way to manufacture a run! Jackie Robinson doubled in Schultz to tie the game up 2-2, and just like that we had ourselves a ballgame. Jerry Witte came in as a pinch-hitter with runners on second and third in the top of the sixth, hitting a three-run homer out of right to put us squarely in control. We held tough from there and won our second exhibition game in a row, this time by a 5-2 margin. Leonard looked great, lasting five innings with two hits, two walks, two runs and a strikeout as he got the win, and our three bullpen arms (Zoldak, Ferens and Garver) kept our bullpen perfect through the remining four innings. We outhit them 8-4, led by Jerry Witte with his three-run homer, and by Jackie Robinson, who had two hits in three at-bats, batting in a run.

March 12, 1947: Today we hosted the Red Sox for a spring game, our two teams both undefeated during the exhibition season so far. Jack Kramer started for us, and Harry Walker gave us a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third off a two-run homer, his first of the spring. Dom Dimaggio scored a run for the Red Sox off a sac-fly by Jim Tabor in the top of the fourth, and in the top of the seventh our bullpen’s perfect streak ended when Al Jurisich gave up a solo homer to Johnny Lazor to tie the score at 2-2. Moments later he gave them the lead, when Gene Benson hit an RBI single, so we went into the stretch trailing 3-2. They added on two more in the top of the ninth off a homer by Jack Albright, and we lost by a 5-2 margin, Boston outhitting us 12-8. Jack Kramer had five innings with five hits, a run and a strikeout, but Jarisich gave up four hits and two runs (with two K’s) as the game slipped away. Harry Walker had two RBIs off his homer, pretty much providing all our offense.

March 13, 1947: Today’s game featured us versus Cleveland, and Bob Moncrief took the mound for us, and his day went poorly from the start. He gave up a staggering seven hits and five earned runs in the first inning as the game became a wash before it began. We got on the board in the top of the second with an RBI triple by Jerry Witte, and a double by Joe Schultz got us a second run. Long reliever Ned Garver took over for our beleagured starter in the bottom of the second, giving up a run to get Cleveland back toa 6-2 lead. But this game was clearly going to be all hitting, and we got the run back with the bases loaded, Wally Judnich singling in Robinson to cut it back to three. With two outs, Witte hit himself a double, clearing the bags and just like that we were tied 6-6! Boston answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning including a Les Fleming three-run homer as our pitching showed real cracks. We’d go on to lose 11-6. There were two bright spots -- though we were outhit 18-8, backup center fielder Jerry Witte hit twice in four at-bats, with a run and four RBIs thanks to a double and a triple, his seven RBIs leading the team so far this spring. And long reliever Sam Zoldak came out, trailing 10-6, and got us through three innings with five hits and three K’s, keeping the game from becoming worse than it was. Zoldak remains our only perfect reliever thus far, with an 0.00 ERA through 6.1 innings.

Harry Walker may have himself a fight for the starting CF spot ... right now he’s hit twice in six tries, with one homer, giving him three RBIs, while Jerry Witte has hit three times in eight tries, including a double, a triple and a homer for seven RBIs (still no singles, but he’s slugging 1.125, which is amazing, small sample or not!)

[jksander]

March 14, 1947: Today’s pitching matchup was our Fred Sanford against Detroit’s Ari Houtteman, their 19-year-old top 30 pitching prospect who is hoping to start after two years in the bullpen. The Tigers pounced quickly, Barney McCoskey hitting a double and then scoring on a sac-fly by Roy Cullenbine early in the bottom of the first. But despite putting two more runners on base, Sanford handled business and kept it to the one run ... and in the top of the second, he hit a line-drive single that drove in two runs to give us the lead on two outs! Arky Vaughn drove home Cavarretta in the third to add on, doubling in the run, Harry Walker hit a solo homer in the fourth, But Sanford got into a jam in the fifth and couldn’t get the second out to save his life ... a Lennie Pearson single drove in a run, and moments later Roy Cullenbine hit a two-run double to tie us at 4-4. He got the final out as the bullpen warmed, but we’d lost our advantage. In the bottom of the seventh, Ned Garver gave up a homer to Pat Mullin as his first batter faced, continuing to blow up his ERA early in this spring, But we stunned them in the top of the ninth, when, with runners on second and third and two outs against us, backup shortstop Ellis Clary picked up a hit into center, driving in two to put us into the lead! We brought Muncrief out to pitch an inning and rest the remainder of our bullpen, giving him a chance to make up for his miserable first start attempt, and he got three quick outs to seal the 6-5 win for us. Sam Zoldak got the win, and is now 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA so far this spring, and we outhit the Tigers 11-9 ... Phil Cavarretta hit three times in three at-bats, driving in a run, and Clary’s two-run single came through in the clutch as well.

March 15, 1947: Tom Seats pitched for us today against the Philly Athletics, and the 36-year-old control-minded pitcher really hoped to have a good start .. we signed him on a minor league contract, and he’s among the pitchers who will be truly fighting for his spot on the 25-man roster. Unfortunately, his flyball focus got him in trouble in the top of the first, and Clyde Vollmer hit a three-run dinger off him, getting us off to a poor start quite quickly. But we answered well ... Jackie Robinson scored off a single by Cavarretta, Arky Vaughn batted home Tommy Glaviano with another single, and with two outs we had the bases loaded for catcher Joe Schultz, who popped out to end the inning with us trailing 3-2. Robinson hit a double in the bottom of the second, his second of the game, scoring two batters later when Cavarretta reached first on an error, tying the score. Seats settled down nicely, and we walked in a run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth to give him a chance to play for the win! Al Jurisich took over with a 4-3 lead to start the top of the sixth, He got into a jam with runners on the corners in the top of the seventh, leting the tying run through on a fielder’s choice, but Muncrief came in and got the final out to keep us from giving them a lead. Arky Vaughn hit a solo homer in the bottom of the inning to get us the lead back, and Muncrief stayed out into the ninth, but blew the lead with two outs when Kenneth Humphrey hit an RBI groundball single to tie the score at 5-5. Moments later he let Pete Suder hit one into center to give them the lead, our batters trailing by a run as we came up to hit in the bottom of the inning. But Harry Walker came out to pinch hit for Muncrief with runners on second and third, one out, and his sac-fly got us the tying run in. Sam Zoldak came out to pitch in the top of the 10th, and he pitched around two baserunners, getting two strikeouts and a groundout to keep our chances alive ... and in the bottom of the inning, backup first baseman Joe Grace walked it off with a single, Bob Dillinger scoring from second to win the game for us 7-6! Zoldak remained perfect and got his third win out of the pen, with a hit, a walk and two K’s for his trouble. We outhit them 14-10, led by Robinson (two hits, two runs) and Arky Vaughn (two hits, two RBIs).

Looking at our pitching through our first six spring games, our top three starters -- Olivo, Leonard and Kramer -- all look solid. But the fourth starter spot is completely up for grabs. The bullpen, including Zoldak (8.1 innings with no earned runs, six strikeouts and just two walks), Stan Ferens (7.0 innings with a 3.86 ERA, three strikeouts, two walks and a .150 BAPIP) and Al Jarisich (5.2 innings with a 4.76 ERA, seven K’s against one walk, and just seven hits against him) has been solid ... I think Zoldak has guaranteed himself a middle relief spot, and it’s now looking like Jarisich vs. Ferens for a long relief spot, though we may keep them both. At this point Ned Garver is playing for his life, however ... through 4.2 innings he’s given up six runs and has an 11.57 ERA, with three walks and no strikeouts. The 21-year-old is most likely going to be playing in the minors this spring, but we’ll keep him up for additional experience against major league pitching.

We’ve decided on our biggest batch of cuts to our offense for the season ... catcher Frank Mancuso, second basemen Johnny Lucadello and Ben Steiner, and left fielders Don Lenhardt, Glen McQuillen and Mayo Smith will be headed back to the minors, though Lucadello will have to pass through waivers first. We’ll spend the rest of April letting the outfield battle shape up ... of Paul Lehner, Dick Whitman (R5), Tommy Glaviano, Jerry Witte and Al Zarillo, it’s very likely two of those will not make the final roster. I’m still deciding if we’re going with a four man or five man rotation, and that’s going to make a big difference.

[jksander]

March 16, 1947: The White Sox were our opponent this afternoon, as our ace Diomedes Olivo faced off against Johnny Rigney, who only played two innings in his spring debut, but with two hits and no runs against him. We took the lead in the top of the second off a sac-fly by Arky Vaughn, but they had one of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Olivo reached on an error in the third and took second in the process, Jackie Robinson batting him home with a double into left to retake the lead. Robinson was caught stealing third, but we added a run when Vern Stephens hit a single that scored Cavarretta from second to make our lead 3-1. That’s when we broke their starter, loading the bags and tacking on another pair with a single by Wally Moses, the White Sox finally getting out of the inning with us ahead by four runs. Chicago got a run back in the bottom of the fourth off a double by Thurman Tucker, but we got it back in the sixth with a two-out RBI double from pinch-hitter Paul Lehner, who set Jackie Robinson up to hit an RBI single to pile on. Ned Garver took over in the bottom of the inning with a sparkling 7-2 lead, and though he gave up a run in the botom of the seventh, we again got it back in the eighth and were able to cruise to an 8-3 win. We outhit them 13-8, led by Robinson (two hits, two RBIs) and Stephens (two hits, two runs, one RBI), and Olivo got the win, pitching five innings with four hits, two walks, one strikeout and two earned runs.

Arky Vaughn strained his oblique in the top of the fourth inning, and had to be pulled from the game. He’s going to be day-to-day for at least a week.

March 17, 1947: Dutch Leonard had a great start against Washington, but so did their pitcher Leon Day, so this one was an unusual pitching duel early on. We broke through in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI triple by Wally Moses to go up 1-0, and a two-run homer by our next hitter, Lee Moss, broke it wide open. We added a fourth run in the fifth inning, and Leonard stayed out to pitch beyond the fifth inning, our first pitcher of the spring to do so. He got out of the sixth while stranding a pair on the corners, and we pinch-hit Arky Vaughn for him in the bottom of the inning, having pitched six innings with five hits, a walk, a strikeout and no runs against. Zoldak took over with the lead 4-0, and he blew the shutout when Ed Stevens hit a one-out solo homer, the first run he’s given up so far this spring. In the bottom of the seventh we got it back off an RBI single by Joe Grace, but they led off with another solo homer against Zoldak in the top of the eighth to at least keep a fire lit beneath them. With no outs and runners on first and second, Jarisich took the mound, and by the time he got out of the inning we’d completely surrendered our lead ... first by walking in a run with the bases loaded and then clearing them with an RBI triple by Jeff Heath that made it 6-5 Senators. Ned Garver got us through the ninth with three quick outs, and with two outs we got a double off the bat of Glaviano, but there was nothing left in us ... we lost this one 6-5. Dutch Leonard now has an 0.82 ERA through 11 spring innings, pitching incredibly well this afternoon, and we outhit them 11-10 but the bullpen did not perform admirably and most of our hits led to stranded baserunners when we couldn’t string the hits together late.

March 18, 1947: We’re up against the Yankees again, and had Jack Kramer on the mound for us. The Yanks got on the board first with a sac-fly by Charlie Keller which scored Tommy Henrich from third in the top of the first inning, and they added on in the second via an RBI double from Hank Majeski. Keller struggled from there to get the third out in the inning, but finally got us up to hit trailing 3-0. We tried to give him a chance to settle in to start the third, but two baseruners in a row forced our hand -- Stan Ferens took over still trailing by three and with runners on first and second, no outs -- and the game turned into a complete loss from there, Ferens giving up both of Kramer’s runs and two more of his own before we got out of the third. We finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI triple by Joe Grace, but we trailed 9-1 at that point, so it mattered little in the grand scheme of things. Jerry Witte’s two-run homer moments later definitely brought the fans to a higher level of alertness, cuting the deficit to six, We made further inroads in the bottom of the seventh, Johnny Berardino hitting an RBI double to cut it to five, and in the bottom of the ninth we loaded the bases off a trio of walks, scoring a run when Al Zarilla hit into a fielder’s choice. But it didn’t matter, and we lost this one 9-5 despite our bench players valliantly trying to claw their way back in the exhibition game. The Yankees outhit us 13-7, and Kramer and Ferenz combined for 4.1 innings with nine hits and nine earned runs, walking four and striking out just two. Jerry Witte led our offense with two hits a run and two RBIs.

March 19, 1947: Bob Muncrief started for us today against the Boston Red Sox, and he walked a pair in the first but escaped without giving up a run. For him this spring, that counts as a BIG win, as he tries to get his ERA back under 10. But a solo homer for Jim Tabor put Boston up 1-0 in the top of the second, and his number of chances is starting to wane. The Sox added a run in the third, but Muncrief held firm and got through five innings without further incident, allowing a total of six hits with four walks, a strikeout and the two earned runs, improving his ERA to 8.68. With the bullpen worn down, we gave the rest of the game to Tom Seats, who is competing for a spot starter position. He had a rough start -- a triple and an RBI single right off the bat -- but in the bottom of the inning we got on the board with an RBI single for Berardino, and we went into the seventh trailing just 3-1. Al Zarilla cut that margin to a single run when he hit a solo bomb out of right in the bottom of the eighth ... but they answered with one of their own in the top of the ninth by Hank Thompson, and that was all she wrote as we lost this one 4-2. Boston outhit us 10-4, with Zarilla leading our offense late ... Seats did what he could, allowing just four hits and two runs off 39 pitches through four innings, but we weren’t able to manufacture baserunners.