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August 1939
AUGUST 14, 1939 FORESTERS EXTEND LEAD ATOP CONTINENTAL What a turn around the first two weeks of August have been in the Continental Association! As July came to a close it was the New York Stars that were flying high in the CA as they finished off July with 5 straight victories including 3 over Cleveland that gave them a 3.5 game lead over the Foresters at the time. Since then New York has tumbled out of first place after dropping 11 of their last 13 games. Meanwhile, the Foresters who limped out of July losing 6 of their final 7 games that month, have certainly turned the page as August arrived. With 9 wins in their first 13 games of August the Foresters have gone from trailing the Stars by 3.5 to enjoying a 3.5 game lead of their own atop the CA. The Federal Association race has also seen some separation as the Detroit Dynamos, thanks to a 3-game sweep of the Minutemen last week, now have a 3 game cushion atop the Fed. The Dynamos had won 6 straight prior to dropping a pair to last place Philadelphia over the weekend but with Pittsburgh having to settle for a 3-3 week the Dynamos lead is still 3 on the second place Miners. Boston, which looked so good last month against Pittsburgh - taking 6 straight from the Miners to move into first place - has had it's troubles with Detroit of late, dropping all 6 contests the past few weeks with the Dynamos. At 3-9 in August the Minutemen have many Boston fans fearing the clubs annual post all-star break slump is readying itself to take their beloved Minutemen out of contention yet again this year. The saving grace perhaps for Boston is they have 6 games coming up with the Miners over the next two weeks and are 8-2 vs Pittsburgh on the season. 1940 DRAFT PREVIEW : COLLEGE PLAYERS TO WATCH The opening phase of the 1940 amateur player draft may still be 5 months away but it is never too early to start scouting the draft pool in an effort to determine who the future stars of FABL might be. This week let's take a look at 10 college stars preparing for their junior year who might hear their names called when the draft gets underway in January. They are ranked based upon OSA's current assessment of their pro potential. 1- BILL SOHL :RHP -Lane State (Portland, OR) The Oregon University has had 13 players drafted in it's relatively short history in the AIAA including a pair of first rounders in infielder Biff Henson (1935 9th overall Montreal) and catcher Joe Henry (1937 10th overall St Louis) but Sohl is expected to be the highest drafted pitcher ever produced by th Emeralds. The Detroit Dynamos seem to have a special connection to Lane State as they lead all teams in drafting 4 players from the school including a pair last year in pitchers Bobby Larry and Jimmy Long. Detroit is also home to another Portland native as first baseman Red Johnson, like Sohl, grew up in Portland. The 21 year old Johnson was taken 2nd overall in the 1935 draft out of high school and he and Sohl, who is a year younger but did pitch against Johnson in high school, are the latest in what is a growing number of pretty solid ballplayers coming out of Portland, joining infielders Art Spencer of the Boston Minutemen and Pittsburgh's Les Tucker. As for Sohl, who is 14-8 with a 3.00 era and 7.4 K/9 over his first two seasons at Lane State, OSA sees the 20 year old as an impact starter. His key to success is pinpoint command and 3 solid pitches as well as a still developing slider. If there is anything holding him back it will be Sohl himself as the big knock on him is some have question whether his heart was really in becoming the best ballplayer he can be. 2- TOM LANDOWSKI: SS -St. Magnus (Rice Lake, WI) The 21 year old was one of three sophomores to be named to Second Team All-Americans last season and his .324 batting average for the Vikings in the spring was the highest among all players returning to college this season. Nicknamed "Gopher", Landowski grades out as an above average shortstop with a lot of offensive talent as well. He won't be a leader as Landowski sees much too shy to be that type, but should give a team an honest effort every time and seems a lock to follow Bob Coon (2nd round Washington) to give St Magnus a January draftee for the second consecutive season. 3-JOHN GRAVES: CF -Detroit City College (Philadelphia, PA) Sheer hard work has made Graves a player you need to know about. A late bloomer, he was a 14th round pick of the Keystones out of high school but decided to go the college route instead of signing with Philadelphia. The move has certainly paid off as OSA sees Graves as someone who has the talent to flourish in the big leagues. Looks like an outstanding defensive center fielder and has been making real and significant progress as a hitter. He has hit 16 homers the past two seasons after hitting just 4 in 3 years of high school ball so perhaps the power tool will also develop but OSA sees him more as a contact guy. It has been a long time since Detroit City College produced an outfielder that was drafted but they do have a history from the feeder days with Lou Williams of the Sailors and Rich Langton of the Cougars being two that come quickly to mind with Birdie Jackson, who was a 1932 7th round pick of St Louis, being the most recent one but since the feeder system ended it has been rather slim pickings for the Knights, who have only had 3 players, all pitchers selected under the new system and none of three have made the big leagues as of yet. (Herb Armstrong and George Potter 1935 and Jack Thompson in 1938) 4-TUCKER NESS : C -BOSTON STATE (Rochester, NY) Like Graves, Tucker Ness was a 14th round pick out of high school but failed to sign with the Chicago Cougars and went the college route instead. OSA calls him an above average player who could hit .310 in the big leagues thanks to a smooth swing, quick hands and good pitch recognition. A two year starter for the Pirates he is a lock to become the first player from that school to be drafted by a FABL club. Ness posted almost identical numbers his freshman and sophomore campaigns, hitting .301 with 6 homers and 62 rbi's in the two seasons combined. Rochester, New York - Ness' hometown - has a pretty rich history of producing big league talent, particularly pitchers. Fatty Johnson and Henry Page were 19th century big league hurlers and more recent Rochester born moundsmen include John White, who had a 20-win season for Sailors, current Keystone George M Brooks and Bill Dengler, who's promising career with Brooklyn was cut short by injury. The top Rochester born position player would have to be Ned Vaughn, who spent a decade in Baltimore just after the turn of the century. While a number have played in the minors no Rochester born catcher has ever made it to the big leagues but Ness seems to be a good bet to one day end that trend. 5- BILL TRAYLOR: RHP -Coastal State (Columbus, GA) Traylor is one of two Coastal State pitchers expected to be drafted next season although the other one, Jess Cavanagh, is unlikely to go in January. Coastal State has already seen 7 of it's alumni selected in past drafts led by Pat Powell, a second baseman chosen in the 4th round of the 1937 draft by Boston. 12 players born in Columbus, Georgia before Traylor have played professional baseball including 4 active minor leaguers (Bob Edgin, Billy Kleber, Jack Timmons, Joe Watkins) but none have ever played a FABL game. Traylor is young - he won't turn 20 until November - but already has two seasons of college ball under his belt including a solid 9-5, 3.69 sophomore season for the Eagles. He has pretty good velocity and throws three pitchers with his splitter being the best of them. OSA seems him as a solid middle of the rotation option one day. 6- FRANK MCNEIL: SS- Daniel Boone College (Decatur, IN) In it's short history Daniel Boone College has produced 14 FABL draft picks inlcuding a pair of second round infielders in Harry Bull (Detroit 1934) and Henry Bush (Stars 1938). Frank McNeil may just become the first Frontiersman to be taken in the first round. A 2-year starter, McNeil has hit .285 in 98 career AIAA games. A true shortstop defensively, McNeil looks like a can't miss every day player in the big leagues one day according to OSA. His biggest strength will be his work in the field but he demonstrates good plate discipline and may hit over .300 in FABL. 7- JIMMIE JAMES: SS- Lane State (Eureka, CA) Lane State should have quite a team this year with James joining pitcher Bill Sohl as Emeralds ranked in the top ten. OSA sees the California native as a second division starter because of just average offensive skills. He hit .280 last season and in two years starting at Lane State has a .271 career average. It is his glove, which is already considered above average and his versatility that will keys to James being a January draft pick. He can play pretty well anywhere except for catcher but OSA sees no reason why he could not handle shortstop as a pro. Baseball in California is certainly on the rise and James is bidding to become the second Eureka born player to be selected in the first round in the past three years. In the 1937 draft Cy Braden, a third baseman who attended Grange College, was picked 13th overall by the Philadelphia Sailors. 8- EDDIE BARKLEY: 3B-Grange College (Dallas, TX) Another school with a short but rich history of providing high FABL draft picks including Joe Herman, who became the first Mustang to make the big leagues when he debuted with Brooklyn last year. Eddie Barkley reminds some scouts of the previously mentioned Cy Braden, a former Grange College third baseman who was a first round selection of the Sailors in 1937. OSA feels Barkley can become an elite hitter which combined with his terrific speed and consistent defense should make him a front-runner for an audition as a FABL third baseman. The Dallas native has just one season of college ball under his belt so far, hitting .298 with 7 homers in 53 games last season. Barkley hails from Dallas, a city which has seen 12 of it's native sons make the big leagues with the most successful being current Cleveland pitcher Lou Martino. Of the 12, one third of them played for Cleveland during their careers. They include Martino, Joe Brumfield, Danny Andrews and Bobby Rudd. 9- TOMMY ANDERSON: RHP -Chesapeake State (Hampton, VA) Anderson was a second team All-American selection after going 9-5 with a 2.66 era as a freshman for the Clippers. Last season he was 8-3, 2.91 and is the ace of a Chesapeake State staff that expects to have three pitchers drafted this year. "Tidewater Tommy" is a worm killer who has plenty of movement on each of his four pitches with the best being a plus change-up. OSA sees him as a back of the rotation guy but the way FABL clubs snap up pitchers early you have to think Anderson will hear his name called in January and likely before the regional round (round 3). No player born in Hampton, Virginia has ever made the major leagues with the top player to come out of the city likely Carl Cobb, who played his college ball at Golden Gate and won 81 minor league games before retiring in 1936. 10- BOB REGAN : 1B -Pierpont University (Ansonia, CT) One of the original feeder league colleges, Pierpont has a rich history in the sport but surprisingly only 3 times have the Purple placed a player on an AIAA All-American team. The first was Sam Brown, who was a second team selection in 1930 and now plays for the Washington Eagles. The second and third were both Bob Regan. The Connecticut boy who stayed in state to play for Pierpont was a first team selection as a freshman two years ago and last season earned second team honours behind Maryland State's Bob Johnston Jr. Regan has hit 29 homers in his two seasons at Pierpont and has a chance to be the school's all-time homerun king with a strong junior season as he trails Brown (1929-31) by 8. Regan tied for the AIAA lead last season with 14 homers while batting .308. Regan was originally a 9th round draft pick by the Chicago Chiefs out of high school but had his heart set on attending Pierpont, one of the prestigous Academia Alliance schools. He is certain to go much higher in the 1940 draft but despite his two very strong seasons at Pierpont OSA feels is ceiling is a bench role. The scouting serivce does concede Regan has plenty of power and an above average high but the knock on him appears to be concerns he will hit for average but even in that regard OSA projects him as a .270 hitter. In the next couple of weeks we will take a look at some of the top high schoolers eligible for the 1940 draft. THE FUTURE IS HERE FOR STRUGGLING GOTHAMS Strategic Move or Marketing Ploy? With early season dreams of an upward move in the standings now shattered and the possibility of a record attendance total now also gone by the wayside, the New York Gothams are looking for other ways to entice their weary fanbase. Is this a smart roster move? Or the last grasp by a desperate GM? Either way it will be a date to remember. Mark your calendars, Tuesday, August 15, 1939 is the day the future arrives. On this date the long awaited 'Infield of the Future' will make its appearance at the new ballpark in Queens. 1B - Walt Messer, 2B - Roosevelt Brewer, 3B - Billy Dalton, and SS - Mule Monier will all appear in the Gothams starting lineup against the Chicago Chiefs. As an added attraction, SP Sam Hodge will make his FABL debut. Hodge was acquired from the other Chicago franchise last winter, but had been injured a good portion of this season. Both Dalton (.293,18,63) and Monier (.267,4,41) have been in New York for quite some time as Dalton made his big league debut in 1937 and Monier came up last year. Brewer (.186,0,1) was called up in early July but has played sparingly so far. It is the 21 year old Messer who will be playing in the big leagues for the first time on Tuesday. Drafted second overall in 1936 after winning the Adwell Award as the top high school player in the nation twice, Messer started this season in AA but was quickly promoted to AAA Toledo. He dominated at that level, hitting .342 with 15 homers in 68 games and was named the Century League player of the week twice in the past month. When asked about this decision, GM Tom Ward promised, "This is no gimmick. Walt Messer has proven he's ready. Dalton and Monier have been solid all year and Rosey is coming along. We'll give them a look the rest of this season, but I see this as our infield next spring." Bold words, or desperate words? We shall see. FARHAT AND DETROIT WORLD QUICK TO DEFEND PESTILLI A column out of Chicago had this to say about Detroit's Sal Pestilli, who has struggled this season at least when compared to what he did a year ago. "He's only 23 so he's likely not done developing, but this season at least, Sal Pestilli looks like a player whose only tool in his toolbox is the long ball. Leading the league with 23 home runs is good, but hitting .265/.303/.517 overall is less than ideal." That prompted a quick defense from Freddie Farhat of The Detroit World. Farhat, sounding like sobriety is doing wonders for his career, had some key observations on the reigning Federal Association Whitney Award winner. "Yeah he hasn't had a great season with the bat, but neither has a lot of hitters in Detroit (although it is better now than earlier in the season). Alf Pestilli has struggled some since his acquisition and while some don't value RBI's, Sal still is a very good player but just having a down year (and tied for the FABL in RBI's). Last year with the way the Detroit offense was humming, leading the league in RBI's might not have been as big a boast as it can be in other years, but with the offense down and fewer runners on board, he is still in the league lead." "That says something. I think he will be a career .300 hitter as he has been in years 1 and 2. This year, maybe not. Still I take him defense, power etc. He fits into Thompson Field very well and won't be going anywhere. One more thing on Sal," added Farhat. "He is hitting when the Dyno's have runners in scoring position and not just home runs. He is a much improved 297/349/523 with 6 home runs and 65 RBI's. And you don't want to face him with the bases loaded. 9-19 18 RBI's, but no grand slams...yet." "Sal has struggled swinging at the first pitch 18-83 217/235/609 and falling behind 0-1 or 0-2 9-55. Maybe they need to change the hitting coach from a power approach to one with a little more patience. Once Sal gets a ball in the count he is a much better hitter except the 2-2 count so far this season. Still I'd rather have him on my team than not." QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 08/13/1939
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August 1939
AUGUST 21, 1939 STARS BACK ON TRACK AND IN CA PENNANT HUNT After a rough start to the month the New York Stars got back on track last week with 5 wins in 6 games. That showing allowed New York to gain a little ground back on the first place Cleveland Foresters who went 4-2 this week and lead New York by 2.5 games atop the Continental Association. Taking two of three at home from Brooklyn and sweeping Montreal was a key week for the Stars, allowing them to get back on the right path after a 3-11 start to the month dropped them out of the top spot. The wins did come at a price however as New York lost veteran pitcher William Jones for the rest of the season with an injury suffered Saturday in Montreal. Jones had a very short stay in the New York rotation, making just 7 starts and posting a 1-3 record since coming over from Detroit in late July. The Jones injury likely means Chuck Cole (3-6, 5.67), another former Dynamo, goes back into the rotation as the #4 starter behind Billy Riley (13-10, 3.64), George Phillips (12-9, 4.49) and Vern Hubbard (11-11, 4.65). Although there is also a chance that someone like John Douglas (15-5, 2.90 in AAA) gets the call from Los Angeles. New York is still waiting for the boost it hopes Bill Barrett (.285,10,48) can provide once he is recovered from his ankle injury. The 19 year old outfielder has been on the shelf for a month already and is not expected back until mid-September. It is hard to call the Continental just a two-team race especially after the incredible charge the Toronto Wolves made around this time last year. However, it is starting to look like the rest of the pack is falling off the pace. The third place Philadelphia Sailors are now 6 games back after they limped through a 1-4 week with stops in Toronto and Chicago. The Sailors do have an opportunity to gain a little ground this week as their road trip continues with a 2-game set in Cleveland. Defending CA champ Brooklyn and Montreal both seem done as they each sit 8 games off the pace after both went 2-4 last week and each struggled against the Stars. The Federal Association is clearly still a 3-team race with the Detroit Dynamos offense, led by a strong second half from second year man Red Johnson, seeming to be back on track. The Dynamos lead on Boston is 3 games and 3.5 on the third place Pittsburgh Miners. Since July 1st the 21 year old Johnson has slashed .386/.502/.632 with 10 doubles, 10 home runs 43 RBI's with 38 walks and only 8 K's while scoring 38 runs. On the season Johnson is now hitting .309/.422/.903 with 17 home runs 16 doubles and 66 RBI's with 65 runs score. His walk to strikeout ratio is 78/24. Note quite as good as last season's 120/22 BB/K ratio but still impressive for such a young hitter. 1940 DRAFT PREVIEW In this installment of TWIFB's draft preview we take a look at some of the pitchers that OSA currently considers to be potential January draft picks. Rounds 1 and 2, plus the regional round three, will take place in January prior to the High School and College seasons with the remainder of the draft to occur in June. Here are ten of the top high school senior pitchers: 1- MEL HAYNES RHP Princeton (NJ) High School There is no pitcher in this class that OSA calls a future ace, at least not at this point in the scouting cycle, but the 6'2" 17 year old from New Jersey comes close. OSA feels Haynes, a groundball pitcher with 4 solid offerings, has a good chance to end up near the top of any big league rotation. His best season was his freshman year when he posted an 11-0 record with a 1.35 era and a career best 138 strikeouts. He went 8-1 as a sophomore and last year he was 7-2 with the best era of his career at 1.19. He also fanned 136 while walking just 22 in 90 innings of work. New Jersey has produced more than it's share of quality FABL pitchers over the years including Cleveland's Dave Rankin and Chicago Cougars righthander Harry Parker. In all 6 New Jersey natives have won over 150 FABL games led by Wayne Robinson's 194. The Garden State has also produced more than it's share of first round picks over the years, although the vast majority were position players. A total of 12 have been taken in round one through the years including current Pittsburgh Miners Jack and George Cleaves as well as rising New York Stars talent Bill Barrett. 2- BOB CROWLEY LHP Fort Lee (NJ) High School Another New Jersey born youngster that OSA is quite high on. Crowley is said to have an outstanding work ethic but is also described as someone who won't force it so perhaps there are some mixed signals in that regard. OSA calls his stuff subpar but feels his pinpoint control and ability to keep the ball down in the zone will more than compensate for it. OSA sees him as a mid-rotation piece. One knock is the relatively small sample size with which to judge him fairly. Crowley did not play as a freshman and split his time between the rotation and pen in his two seasons so he only has 127 innings of high school ball. He is 9-0 with a 1.28 era and a 10.8 K/9 over that time so expect a team likely grab him in the first round. Two years ago another Fort Lee pitcher was selected as the Baltimore Cannons picked Tom Guy in the 18th round. Now 19, Guy is 5-7 for Class C Burlington so far this season. 3- ANDY HOWELL RHP Hamilton High School, Brooklyn NY Went 10-1 last season and is 26-2 with a 1.45 era for his three seasons of High School ball. OSA likes his four-pitch mix and feels his movement will keep the ball in the park. He will generate a lot of ground balls and OSA sees Howell as a solid #3 starter, perhaps even better. Howell is one of two current Hamilton High Eagles in the draft pool as pitcher Dave Low may also draw some interest but likely not until June. Three other Hamilton High alumni were drafted with the highest being outfielder Jack Hill, who was a 6th round pick of the Brooklyn Kings in 1934. 4- JOE LUND RHP Bennington (VT) High School The east coast trend continues with Lund, who was a High School All American selection this past season after going 11-0 with a 0.70 ERA - lowest in the nation. He also ranked second in strikeouts with 205 and his 15.9 K/9 was tops in the country. His two year record (Lund did not play as a freshman) is 20-0 with a 0.82 era and 357 strikeouts compared to just 45 walks in 207 innings of work. Despite all of that OSA is not as high on Lund as it is on those above him. The Scouting Bureau worries about Lund's stamina feeling he may not be able to go more than 5 innings. He has 5 pitches and is projected to have better than average stuff once he is finished developing. As an added bonus, Lund's work ethic is listed as high. He is also bidding to become the first native of Vermont ever selected in the first round of the FABL draft. There have been some pretty good pitchers come out of Vermont over the years led by Phil Miller, who won 288 games in his career, and Ken Carpenter who was a 210 game winner. 5- FRANK SEARS RHP Burlington (WI) High School The talent, in OSA eyes at least, drops off here with Sears being considered a back of the rotation piece. He is tall, at 6'3" and hopefully will develop more velocity to improve his fastball which tops out at 84-86 mph. Sears went 10-2, 1.40 last season and is 17-5 in 2 years at his Wisconsin high school. Sears won't be the first high profile pitcher to come out of Burlington High School as Billy Crane was a fifth round pick of Baltimore's in 1935. Crane had some upside but has been hit with a pair of serious injuries. Ray Patillo, an outfielder taken by Cleveland in round 21 in 1938 is also a former member of the Burlington High Demons. 6- RICHIE HUGHES LHP Amboy (IL) High School Born in Chicago but grew up west of the city in Amboy he is said to be a diehard Chicago Chiefs fan. Hughes was an All-American this past season and TWIFB called him the best High School ballplayer in Illinois last season. A three year starter he is 26-5 with a 1.72 era and averaging 12.1 K/9. Nice to see is his numbers have trended upward each of his three seasons and he is still just 16 years old as of this writing. OSA sees him as possibly a 5th starter or swingman but some FABL scouting directors probably see more in him as they point to his velocity, which has already touched 90 mph despite his young age. Hughes' former teammate Clem Strom was selected in the 15th round by Toronto last year and catcher Drummond Nolfi was a 19th round pick of Baltimore's in 1938 but he has since been released and is now with AAA Portland of the Great Western League. 7- HAL HACKNEY RHP Fulton (MO) High School Hackeny was an All American this past season after posting the second lowest ERA in the nation and the fourth highest strikeout total. He did not play as a freshman but is 20-0 with a 0.81 era and 15.3 K/9 over his two seasons yet OSA sees him as a relatively ineffective contributor. Hackney won't be the first Fulton High player drafted as Toronto selected infielder Bud House from the school in the tenth round of the 1937 draft. 8- RALPH MILLSAP LHP Trinity High School Louisville KY Born in Cincinnati so he could potentially be a Cleveland Foresters regional selection should he survive the first two rounds. A three year starter who has an impressive 21-4 career mark with a 1.31 era and an 11.3 K/9 ratio. His curveball is the best of his three pitches but OSA does worry that his average fastball and presently below average change-up will not be enough to allow him to start regularly in the big leagues. A pair of players from Louisville Trinity have previously been drafted with both being selected in 1937. Second baseman Lou Ludden was an 8th round pick of Pittsburgh while Boston selected Jesus Livngstone in the 20th round. Both are currently still playing in Class C. 9- AL WINN RHP Centerville (TN) High School His numbers fell off his junior season after a very impressive freshman campaign and a decent second season. Winn is 29-4 with a 1.45 era over his 3 years but his best season by far was the 10-0, 0.95 he logged as a 14 year old. OSA says he should end up with two very good pitches but a rudimentary change-up might hinder his ability to start regularly in the major leagues. Winn will be the second Centerville High product to get drafted. Outfielder Dick Lewis was a 19th round pick of Detroit in 1934 and the 23 year old is still in the Dynamos system, currently playing at Class A Terre Haute where he is putting up some big numbers. In addition junior first baseman Luke Oster is a 1941 draft prospect. 10- RED HAMPTON LHP Corning (NY) High School OSA is not very high on Hampton but scouts will certainly remember his dominant freshman season in which Hampton was an honourable mention All-American when he went 11-0 with a 1.08 era. Hampton was less effective his sophomore season but did bounce back a bit last year as a junior. OSA worries about his inability to throw strikes (he had 101 walks in 3 seasons but nearly half of them came in his troubling sophomore campaign) and OSA does not see him become much of a major leaguer. His best hopes for January selection might rest on someone taking a chance on him in the regional round. Hampton is a childhood friend of Herb Dorsey, an 18 year old shortstop the Philadelphia Sailors drafted in June. IT WAS A MEMORABLE DAY FOR THE GOTHAMS MILLION DOLLAR INFIELD Yes it was memorable. However, not for all the right reasons. Offensively, something to dream on. On the mound, not so much. Almost 16,000 of the Gothams faithful wandered into the big ballpark in Queens to see the future arrive. Before the offensive fun could start rookie Sam Hodge gave them a day to forget on the mound. In his FABL debut Hodge was treated rudely by the visiting Chicago Chiefs, giving up three runs in the first, then six in the second without recording an out. Hodge and his 81.00 ERA left the premises and all attention could turn to the shiny new infield. Walt Messer made his debut and recorded his first hit, a single in the 3rd. Messer went 1-3 on the day, to join Billy Dalton, 1-3, Mule Monier, 2-4 and Roosevelt Brewer, 3-5 in a celebration on what may be. Messer had a good first week going 5-12 .417 with his first homer and 3 RBI. Hodge also was rocked in his second start giving up 10 runs, 5 earned in less than 3 innings. EDDIE QUINN AND THE TRADE THAT TARNISHED HIS CAREER Veteran Washington Eagles starter Eddie Quinn tossed another shutout this week, giving the 32 year old a career best 4 goose eggs on the season and improving his record to 18-6 with a 2.55 era, second only to Detroit's Frank Crawford among Federal Association pitchers. Quite a turnaround from the 4-13, 5.15 debacle he went through last season. At the time there was some speculation that Quinn, who made his big league debut with Toronto in 1930, might have reached the end of the line but he was also just a year removed from an 18 win 1937 campaign and had one of the worst defenses in FABL standing behind him. Now, in the midst of the best season of his career, which comes immediately after the worst, one has to wonder if the real Eddie Quinn is the 1938 version or what we are seeing in 1939. The answer likely lies somewhere in between as Quinn, as his career 117-118 indicates, has always seemed to be about a league average pitcher. He had some rough seasons in Toronto and some good years in Cleveland with a mix of both thrown in once he joined the Eagles. Through absolutely no fault of his own, Quinn has always had a bit of a black mark attached to his name simply because of the trade that proceeded his professional career. It was at the 1925 draft, the first of the modern (human GM) era and one that as it would turn out had an incredibly talented group of hitters at the top of it. They included Al Wheeler, Bud Jameson, Bill Ashbaugh, Doug Lightbody and Jack Cleaves. Few one thought it at the time but there were some outstanding pitchers in that draft as well. 4-time Allen Award winner Jim Lonardo would be a 10th round pick. William Jones likely won't ever win an Allan Award but the current New York Star has won 172 big league games and he went in the third round to the Philadelphia Sailors. What was quite clear to nearly everyone was that hitters ruled the top of the draft and the Toronto Wolves, who owned the 6th pick, traded up to get the #2, sending a pair of decent pitchers and several later round picks to the Brooklyn Kings for the swap from 6 to 2. Everyone assumed the Wolves had their eyes on one of those hitters but instead they selected Quinn despite the fact he went just 2-0 as a senior with only 41 innings of work in 9 appearances for his high school team. And, most damaging to the Wolves future, every team but Toronto seemed to know Quinn would have still be available when the Wolves were originally slated to pick 6th and quite possibly would have lasted until their second round pick as well. Toronto dug itself a hole that day, a hole that certainly helped set the stage for the awful decade the club has endured in the 1930s and, while unfairly, much of the blame for that was placed squarely on Quinn's shoulders. Rufus Barrell recently said this when asked about the pitcher. "Every time I think about Quinn I can't help but think about that trade. Possibly the worst draft-day trade in league history and it happened in our very first draft. How do you trade up from #6 to #2, then pass up Jack Cleaves, Bud Jameson, Doug Lightbody and Bill Ashbaugh to draft a guy you could easily have gotten by staying at #6? And he wasn't even the best pitcher in the pool. Now granted, this was the first draft and no one had any real idea how good these guys were, but that trade was terrible. And I guess it still colors how I look at Quinn who has become a serviceable starter who is having a great season but really, he's been kind of a journeyman for most of his career." A pair of former Cleveland GM's, each of whom employed Quinn for a spell, speak a bit more favourably of the righthander. "I always liked Quinn as he struggled with bad teams in Toronto before coming to Cleveland in a trade," said the current Detroit boss and former Cleveland GM. "I gave up Levi Redding who has been a solid young CF and a 2nd round pick for him. That worked out well for our '34 World Series team where Quinn went 17-10 with a 3.10 ERA. He didn't have success in the playoffs either season in Cleveland in 34 or 35. Still he was a key acquisition that went overlooked on the Forester's World Series winning club. I'm not sure we would have gotten over the hump if it wasn't for his contributions. He is not a superstar but in the right situation's he has been a solid #3 guy." The current Stars GM also had Quinn for a spell in Cleveland before dealing him to Washington. "My experience with Quinn was he was either on or off," was his assessment of Quinn. "No real middle." That explanation really does sum up Quinn's days in Washington, being alternately very good and very bad. Quinn is benefiting from an improved infield defense behind him with the Eagles this year so perhaps he will string together a few solid seasons and who knows, Quinn might well win an Allen Award this year and maybe that gives a small bit of satisfaction to those who ran the Wolves so many years ago. But no matter what he has accomplished so far in his career, and what he might still do, it is clear that his name will be forever linked to arguably the worst trade in modern FABL history. "It doesn't matter if it was the first draft--it was still clearly a horrible trade for Toronto," surmised one Federal Association insider. Rufus Barrell summed up Quinn's career this way: "He eventually fashioned a career for himself. He's not an ace, for sure, but I would say you're right - a good mid-rotation guy. This year he's playing way over his head. Is it luck? Depends on who you ask, I guess." If you ask the Washington Eagles their manager Jack Dittrich will tell it like this. "I think the main difference is that he's gone from the worst defensive infield in the league to the best. For a guy who's bread and butter is the groundball, that's the main difference I've seen between him in previous years and this year." So perhaps Eddie Quinn will get the last laugh and one day be remembered for something more than just the key piece in one of the worst trades of all time. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 08/20/1939
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August 1939
AUGUST 28, 1939 BYE BYE BALTIMORE? Frustrated by his team's extended run of living in the Continental Association's basement, Baltimore Cannons owner Oscar Banner is rumored to be in discussions to sell the team to an unnamed Cincinnati-based businessman. Baltimore is currently last in the CA and a finish in that position would mark the sixth straight last-place finish for the Cannons. For a team that has not won a title since 1914 (when they were the Baltimore Clippers), the extended run of dismal performances has worn thin on the 75-year-old Banner. "All I will say right now is this," Banner said, taking a dramatic pause before continuing, "I have a very nice offer for the team from a gentleman in Cincinnati. He has not told me whether he would be moving the club if I were to sell it to him." When pressed for his reasons, Banner testily replied, "I am an old man and not getting any younger. The club's performance since I was convinced to allow a rebuilding project to be begun in 1932 has frankly been dismal. We were supposed to get better within a few seasons. Instead we've been the laughingstock of the league for the better part of a decade." As questions were shouted at him, Banner raised a hand and said, "Regardless of whether I sell this club, I can guarantee one thing: there will be extensive changes made this winter." He took no further questions. As for the purported move to Cincinnati, there are several hurdles that would need to be cleared for the team to be moved. The sale, and subsequent move would need to be approved by the league office which is never a guarantee. Then there are the negotiations which would need to be held both with the Cleveland Foresters, whose Triple-A affiliate currently resides in Cincinnati, and with the city itself, which owns the ancient ballpark (Monarchs Field) that the team uses. It must be mentioned however that the city of Cincinnati has recently been looking to entice a FABL club to their city, promising a new ballpark for that club in the eventuality that someone actually agrees to move there. The Montreal Saints were rumored to have been considering such a move as recently as last year, but nothing has transpired thus far. Should the Cannons move, it would be the first club to relocate this century. 10 THINGS I THINK WITH JIGGS MCGEE It has been a while since Jiggs graced these pages with a "10 Things I Think" column but with big news out of Cannons country it is certainly time for a special Baltimore edition of the column. 1- The big news is of course the report of a possible transfer of the Baltimore Cannons to Cincinnati. Mixed emotions for me on this one as the Baltimore franchise has a rich history including 6 pennants and 3 World Championships in a 12 year period beginning in 1908. There have been a lot of outstanding Baltimore players over the years led by the greatest batsman the sport has ever known in Hall of Famer Powell Slocum. Fellow Hall of Famer Mike Marner, Jimmy Whipple and Ken Carpenter are others who made their mark on Baltimore baseball and don't forget the first half of Rabbit Day's career was as a Cannon. 2- All that is well and good but it really is ancient history. Yes the Cannons were once a proud franchise but in the modern era they have been awful. Their 909 victories between 1926 and 1938 is the second lowest in either Association over that time, topping only Toronto's 891 wins. 10 FABL clubs have won at least one pennant and 9 at least one World Championship Series during that stretch but the Cannons are not one of them. In fact, Baltimore has only finished in the first division three times in that 13 year span and keep in mind that was in a Continental Association that also had very bad teams in Toronto and Montreal. 3- Perhaps it is well beyond the time that Cannons owner Oscar Banner should have divested himself of the team he has ran since 1913. The club he inherited won back to back pennants his first two years in charge but under Banner's ownership there have been no more banners to hang at the field named after him. One has to wonder why Banner has taken so long to act, before just this week finally promising "there will be extensive changes made this winter." That announcement comes about 4 years too late for my liking. This club seems destined for a 6th straight last place finish. 4- Cincinnati really deserves a big league club. The city was a charter member of William Whitney's Century League back in 1876 and were it not for the untimely death of owner James Tice just prior to FABL being formed the Monarchs might well still exist. Instead the city has been used as a pawn by both Cleveland and Montreal in recent years...a threat in both towns to get concessions from local government or risk losing their club to the Queen City. Each time fans in Cincinnati were left at the alter as both the Foresters and Saints stayed put leaving Cincinnati ball fans no alternative but to remain content feeding on the table scraps of minor league baseball as a farm team of the Foresters. The club, now known as the Steamers, has actually been very well supported in the AAA Union League, even exceeding a million paying customers at it's peak in 1930 but interest has waned in recent years likely due to the flirtations of big league clubs with the city, making minor league baseball seem like a sad consolation prize. 5- Speaking of attendance the Cannons have been in the bottom three in FABL each of the past seven seasons and are well on their way to making it 8 in a row this campaign. Nearby Washington also ranks near the bottom in paying customers every year making many wonder if it is simply the area is not one to support baseball but you have to remember both teams have been very bad ballclubs for the past decade. With well over 800,000 residents Baltimore is the 7th largest city in the US and Washington is not far behind. Cincinnati has just over half the population of Baltimore but their AAA club outdrew the Cannons last season so one might conclude that while their are 800,000 people in Baltimore, very few of them care for baseball, or at least not bad baseball which is all the Cannons have treated them to for many years. (Note 1938 Union League attendance numbers place 584,552 fans in the seats for 70 Steamers home games while the Cannons drew 525,512 while also playing 7 more games at home than Cincinnati.) 6- The Cannons are a bad team and not likely to get better quickly. It is hard to see this group contending for the first division in the next couple of seasons, at least not without drastic changes, and the dream of a pennant seems years away. Baltimore has already proven it has little interest in supporting a bad Cannons team. If the club stays put in Baltimore can the promised changes turn the club's fortunes around quick enough to win the support of fans back? On the other hand a shift to Cincinnati would mean the club should draw very well, even in the early going, no matter how bad it is on the field simply because it is big league baseball. For that reason if Banner does successfully sell the team to the as of yet unnamed party in Cincinnati there is no way I see the new owners wanting to keep the club in it's present home. 7- The league might have something to say in that regard. FABL has enjoyed great stability with all 16 franchises remaining in the same city they were in when the league was formed in 1892. I am not sure the league wants to abandon any of it's original markets. That being said if there is a market the league would give up Baltimore seems like a good choice. They won't abandon Washington because of owner William Stockdale's connections and the desire to not create ill will with federal politicians. If there was another city on thin ice I would have said it would be one of the two Canadian clubs but Toronto was saved, at least temporarily by a strong season both on the field and at the box office last season and Montreal, after talk of a move to Cincinnati, also seems secure. Longshots to move one day would be one of the Philadelphia clubs or one or two of the 3 teams in New York. 8- If the move does comes to pass what happens to the Steamers, Cincinnati's AAA club and Forester affiliate? It could be as simple as swapping locations with Baltimore getting a AAA team to replace the departing Cannons and they could have a built in rivalry right away with the Richmond and Charleston clubs. If Cleveland balks at moving their AAA club to Baltimore perhaps the Foresters could take over Toledo of the Century League from the Gothams, who might be more willing to take on Baltimore as their top farm club. 9- The Cannons have no one to blame but themselves for this situation. When the team was winning it drew well, even during the 1920s with a lot of mid-table finishes the Cannons still ranked right around the middle of the league in attendance. 1931 was their second consecutive second place finish and the club topped the 1 million mark in attendance for the first time in franchise history and it seemed like things were looking up. However poor showings in 1932 and 1933 followed by a complete sell-off when they dealt away stars like Rabbit Day and Lou Kelly set the table for the next half decade worth of disastrous baseball with bad drafting decisions only causing the situation to spiral further into despair. 10- The odds of the move to Cincinnati happening are likely a lot higher then the chances that Cleveland or Montreal would have actually moved but I would still peg them at no more than 50/50. The Cincinnati Cannons does have a nice ring to it and would be a fresh start for what has become a very stale franchise. Although perhaps a nod to the old Century League is best and if Cincinnati does finally get major league baseball back I can think of no better name for the club than bringing the Cincinnati Monarchs to FABL. It would be nearly 50 years later than I am sure the Tice had ever hoped but a fitting name to perhaps one day put the shine back on what has become, as even Oscar Banner freely admits, the laughingstock of FABL. The big news this week, aside from another bad week from your Brooklyn Kings, is the Baltimore Cannons are up for sale and there is a strong chance the club will be bought by a Cincinnati group that is almost certain to move the club if the purchase goes through. That does not sit well with a number of former Cannons including their two Hall of Famers Powell Slocum and Mike Marner. The scuttlebutt on the street is Marner, who pitched briefly for the Kings at the end of his career, is working with another former Cannon/King pitcher in Ken Carpenter to try and find an investor to help them purchase the club. Some talk even goes as far as saying current Kings manager and former Baltimore batting legend Powell Slocum has been approached about leaving the Kings next season to become the new Baltimore bench boss if the group is successful. Word is Slocum, in addition to a hefty manager's salary, would also receive a piece of ownership in the club. The news gets worse for Brooklyn fans as Kings Scouting Director John Spears, a Baltimore native, is also said to be pondering the opportunity to return to his hometown. Spears was not available to comment on the matter. Slocum was approached by the media but he would only confirm that he was "manager of the Brooklyn Kings and fully focused on salvaging this trying season." While not addressing talk of his possible role in an effort to salvage the club, Slocum did add that he would be extremely disappointed to see the Cannons leave Baltimore, a city they have been associated with as either the Clippers or Cannons since 1890. There is nothing concrete but where there is smoke there is often fire and it certainly feels like a few people with Brooklyn ties are burning to bail out Baltimore by rescuing the Cannons. CROWN JEWELS: Another bad week for the Kings. From the if it's not one thing... department. The offense finally seems to be clicking, even Al Wheeler finally hit a pair of homers - his first two all month - but while the bats were cooking it was the pitching which suddenly ended up in the freezer. Art White was ice cold and got shelled twice. Bob Cummings, who was so good up until the all-star break has had some rough outings and word is the front office is starting to wonder if Sergio Vergara will ever learn how to pitch consistently. Bottom line is even though Brooklyn scored 38 runs in 6 games last week, they still only went 2-5 because the normally sound pitching staff surrendered 47 runs over that time. Kings Owner Daniel Prescott in shock at how quickly Kings have crashed from elite to mediocre and incensed the club drew less than 8000 to a game this week. One of the few bright spots for the organization of late is the play of Whitey Dorsch. Brooklyn’s other 1st rounder has been greatly overshadowed by Rats McGonigle and ignored by OSA but the 18 year old is making a statement in Class C. After close to 2 months of pro ball the 3B is slashing .423/.531/.600 and may get moved up to Class B before the season concludes. DYNAMOS LOSE WHEELER FOR THE SEASON The Detroit Dynamos started the week with a 5 game winning streak but it came to an end on the weekend in Chicago as the Federal Association leaders fell twice to the Chiefs. What turned out to be an even bigger loss last week for Detroit was the news the Dynamos received about righthander Charlie Wheeler (11-7, 3.06). It was bad news on his 25th birthday Tuesday as Wheeler learned his season would be over after hurting his shoulder in the fourth inning of his start Monday against the Gothams. Doctors fear he tore something and Wheeler has been told not to attempt to throw a ball again until December. The Dynamos will now be reviewing options to take Wheeler's place in the rotation. They have four pretty solid starters in Frank Crawford (20-3, 2.45), Sergio Gonzales (9-7, 3.67) and a pair of veteran pickups from Brooklyn in Mike Murphy (8-10, 4.38) and Joe Shaffner (7-12, 3.80) so they could conceivably go with a 4-man rotation. However, Looking at the schedule there are not a lot of off-days so the short rotation might be too taxing with Crawford, Murphy and Shaffner all in their thirties. After today's game in Chicago, the Dynamo's have a 17-game 17-day (DH vs CHI in Sept and 1 off day) homestand starting on Tuesday. The first 6 games of that home stand are against Boston and Pittsburgh so it will be a stiff test for Detroit. Manager George Theobald was obviously disappointed after hearing about the severity of Wheeler's injury. "If Wheeler hadn't gone down to injury we would be feeling fairly comfortable with our position," explained baseball's winningest manager. "But we really can't give up any ground during this homestand." So what are the Dynamos options. Assistant General Manager Rankin Trull says Theobald certainly has some choices available to him. "Definitely Ron Coles (6-0, 3.41) has an opportunity to grab the spot, or George always wants to start Jack Richardson (2-4, 2.98). AAA RHSP Frank Gordon has pitched well after coming over from New York and getting out of the hitter happy GWL. But Coles is probably the leader in the clubhouse for the occasional start." BOSTON STRUGGLES WITH MINERS For the second week in a row the second place Boston Minutemen dropped two of three to the Pittsburgh Miners. This time it was on the road at Fitzpatrick Park as the hometown Miners made up for being swept by Boston in a pair of three game series last month. Boston sits 4 games back of Detroit while the Miners are 4.5 after missing an opportunity to gain some ground on Detroit over the weekend when they dropped two of three in Philadelphia while Detroit was falling in Chicago. [b]CLEVELAND RUNNING INTO ARM TROUBLE[b] Injuries are also becoming a concern from the Continental Association leading Cleveland Foresters. Nothing long-term but in the last week starters Dave Rankin (10-12, 4.63) and Lou Martino (7-3, 3.11) each went down. Both are expected to be back sometime next week but Martino will not be available for a key 3-game series with second place New York beginning today. The Stars desperately need a strong showing in that series after dropping 3 of 5 games last week and losing some ground in their pursuit of Cleveland. 1940 DRAFT PREVIEW Before we take a look at some of the top high school position players available in the 1940 draft pool let's look at potential draftees with family ties to professional baseball. By TWIFB count there are 7 players in the upcoming draft who are related to current or former professional ball players. Here is a quick look at each of them in alphabetical order. ROGER BAKER - Son of Del Baker Roger is a senior pitcher from Milford (PA) High School, He is a 3 year starter with a 12-8 career record and a 3.38 era. OSA considers him to be a marginal prospect that, if he makes it to the big leagues, it will likely only be on an emergency basis. If he does get to the majors it will be farther than his father managed to advance. His dad was a decent first baseman at Swoyersville High School in the old feeder league days and was a 1915 4th round pick of the Pittsburgh Miners. He never made the Miners and his very brief pro career consisted of 7 games with a pair of independent clubs in the Great Western League. LOU BAYER - son of Harry Bayer Another Pennsylvania high schooler, Lou is a 17 year old catcher at Hatboro High. He has played two seasons and owns a .447 batting average with 9 homers in 49 career games. OSA thinks he will make good contact at the next level and be a very reliable hitter one day. His dad Harry was also a catcher but had only the smallest of cups of coffee in pro ball. Harry is one of the few ballplayers to be born in Alaska and his pro career consisted entirely of 5 games for the 1907 Camden Rockets, a Class A team that he went 2-for-14 for, and then vanished to one of the many semi-pro leagues along the east coast. WILLIE GRUBER- grandson of Franz Gruber A catcher at Fairfield (OH) High School, Willie will likely be a career minor leaguer as OSA has little confidence in his ability to hit at the pro level. In 41 games at Fairfield High over the past two seasons he is batting .417 with 3 homers. His dad Franz is best known as a minor league manager and he led the Rochester Rooks to three consecutive Union League championships beginning in 1934 before retiring following the 1936 season. In addition to Rochester of the Union League, Gruber also skippered teams in Dixie and Heartland Loops from 1925 until '36. Born in Germany, the elder Gruber's family moved to the United States while he was a boy and he took quickly to baseball. Gruber, a righthanded pitcher, spent 7 seasons in the minors including parts of three years at the AAA level. The bulk of his time was spent at Class A Omaha, for whom he won 20 games in 1906. He finished with a career minor league mark of 42-50 before moving into coaching. DON LEE - brother of Rip Lee of the Philadelphia Sailors The Jersey City native is a center fielder who goes by the nickname 'Rap' which ties in nicely with his brother, who is 7 years older and has spent the past three seasons as the Sailors starting shortstop. Rip was a third round pick out of high school in 1932. Don likely will be drafted much later than his big brother as while OSA likes his bat speed and eye at the plate, they feel he is a reserve at best. JOHN MOSS - cousin of Cliff Moss of the Chicago Chiefs If "Johnny Reb" turns out to be anything like his older cousin he should be a solid player. The elder Moss is now 33 years old and a veteran of nearly 1500 FABL games and an all-star selection this past July. Cliff went the college route and played for Pierpont before being selected first overall by Montreal in the 1927 draft. John, who like his cousin grew up in Lexington, Kentucky has started the past two seasons for that city's high school squad. John hit .474 over his 51 career games and while he is unlikely to go first overall like Cliff, OSA expects John Moss will hear his name called in the January phase of the draft. OSA feels he has a high ceiling and projects well on the field and at the plate. He is seen as a natural leader and said to possess outstanding communication skills. FRED WAGGONER - Son of Joe Waggoner and grandson of Hall of Famer John Waggoner Nothing like the pressure of trying to follow in the footsteps of a Hall of Famer. John Waggoner came out of Wheeling, West Virginia but made his mark on the sport in the Big Apple, spending most of his career with the New York Stars before winding down with the cross-town Gothams. He won 3 World Championship rings and his 3,207 career hits is the 7th most all-time. Waggoner was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938. John's son Joe - Fred's father - was a shortstop just like his old man and a pretty good one at the college level, where he played for three seasons for Northern California University and win a National Title. Good enough in fact to be selected in the 4th round of the 1921 draft by the Chicago Cougars. He lasted just one season of pro ball, where he hit .257 at Class A Lincoln before choosing a different path from his father and returned to the west coast where he fashioned a pretty good career as a business owner in San Francisco. Joe also spent much of his time tutoring young Fred on the finer points of baseball. Seeing some potential in his son Joe and John agreed the best place for Fred to pursue his dreams of pro baseball was on the east coast so Fred moved to New York to live with his grandfather and play at Trinity High School in the city where he is currently a teammate of highly touted senior pitcher Ralph Millsap. Unlike his father and grandfather, Fred is a center fielder and a very competent one at that according to OSA. He has good speed and stole 21 bases as a junior this past summer. He also exhibits strong plate discipline with a .500 on base percentage last season to go with a .408 batting average. OSA feels Fred Waggoner has a shot at the big leagues but likely strictly as a backup. His name alone might convince one of the New York clubs to take a chance on him in the regional round (Round 3) but may be more a player teams consider for the June portion of the draft. CHARLIE WRIGHT JR. son of Charlie Wright The Wright's have a tie to the Waggoner as Charlie Senior was a college teammate of Joe Waggoner at Northern Cal on the AIAA National Champion 1921 Miners club. The elder Wright was a pitcher who actually spent time with 3 different colleges (Boulder State and Mississippi A&M were the others). His career mark was an unimpressive 1-8 with a 7.38 era but as mentioned he was a member of a National Championship club. Wright Senior was never drafted and although he did get a minor league tryout in the Gothams system he never played a professional game. Junior was born in New York City but grew up in Massachusetts where his father settled after his playing days. A shortstop with good speed but a lightweight bat, OSA expects Charlie Wright Jr. will have a tough time making the major leagues. Next issue we will look at the top rated position players among High School seniors. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 08/27/1939
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September 1939
SEPTEMBER 4, 1939 A GOLDEN AGE BEGINS AT HOME WHILE IT IS ALSO THE BEGINNING OF UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS ABROARD A stark contrast this week as what looks to be a long and deadly war begins in Europe while at the same time FABL ushers in the dawn of a new era full of new technology. The situation in Europe escalated quickly as Germany launched an attack on Poland prompting Great Britain and France to join the fight on behalf of the Poles. Civilian casualties were reported high in Poland as German bombers failed to discriminate between military targets and civilian ones while in the waters of the North Atlantic a German submarine sank a British ocean liner killing 311 including a number of Americans. Despite that attack the United States has vowed to remain out of the war. Meanwhile in Brooklyn and across much of the New York City area it was technology at it's best for a few baseball fans unable to witness Saturday's game between the hometown Kings and the visiting Cleveland Foresters in person. The game was broadcast on television station W2XBS in New York, making it the first professional game ever televised. Not that there were a lot of viewers as television is in it's infancy, regular programming does not yet exist, and there are reported to be only about 400 television sets in the New York area. It was the second baseball game to be broadcast by the station as a trial run was done in May at a college game between Henry Hudson and Sadler. The coverage was very limited. While the college broadcast used just a single camera situated 50 feet from home plate this one at Kings County Park employed a second camera. The first was placed down the third base line to pick up infield throws to first, and the second was placed high above home plate to get an extensive view of the field. It was also difficult to capture fast-moving plays: Swinging bats looked like paper fans, and the ball was all but invisible during pitches and hits. Nevertheless, Kings owner Daniel Prescott called the experiment a great success, adding he feels future broadcasts will help drive interest both in baseball and the development of television technology, particularly for sporting events. As for the game itself it was far more than the picture quality that made it tough to watch for Brooklyn fans. The slumping Kings were hammered 10-3 by the Foresters in a contest that was all but decided very early when Cleveland plated 4 runs in the top of the first. Cleveland is also starting to run away with the Continental Association, widening their lead on second place New York to 6 games. The Stars are another club that is struggling, having lost 5 straight and have the worst record in the CA since the all-star break at 18-24. Cleveland on the other hand is 25-19 since the midseason celebration game. The Federal Association race is starting to tip in Detroit's favour although the Pittsburgh Miners are still in it thanks to taking two of three from the Dynamos last week. Included in those two Pittsburgh wins was Charlie Stedman's (10-16, 3.01) first win since June 28th. It was more a lack of run support from teammates than poor outings but Stedman had dropped 10 straight decisions prior to snapping the streak. The Boston Minutemen are in a freefall and now trail Detroit by 5.5 games. The Minutemen have won just 11 of their 30 games. MILWAUKEE MAYOR. "NOT SO FAST, CINCINNATI" Last week's news conference by Baltimore Cannons owner Oscar Banner appears to have raised eyebrows and spurred discussion across far more than just the 15 other FABL clubs' front offices. Mr. Banner mentioned that an unnamed businessman in Cincinnati, Ohio had made an offer to purchase the Cannons. Though Banner did not specifically say so, this immediately caused speculation that the end result of such a sale would be the relocation of a Cannons club that has called Baltimore home since 1890 trading one port city for another. Now a new voice has been heard: that of long-time Milwaukee mayor Daniel Hoan. Mayor Hoan was speaking with members of his city's media when he was asked if he believed his city, which has a larger population then Cincinnati, would be a good home for a FABL team. His response, "Of course it would. We have great fans in this city and they have supported the Blues for years. I can't imagine how excited our citizens would be to have top-flight baseball here in Milwaukee." It should be noted that the Milwaukee Blues are a Century League Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cougars. One intrepid reporter from the city of Milwaukee managed to get Mr. Banner on the phone and asked him if he would consider an offer from a potential owner in Milwaukee. His response: "Of course. I'll listen to any offer, from anyone. I've always believed that in business you need to explore all options." The potential move of the Baltimore Cannons is a continuing story. And it may all end up to be a bunch of wind as there are still the very real possibilities of Banner simply keeping the team, or of selling it to the consortium attempting to raise the capital to purchase the Cannons and keep them in Baltimore. Adding to the buzz around this story are rumors that there are interested parties in Buffalo, New York, New Orleans, Louisiana and even Atlanta, Georgia. FABL President Sam Belton has been firm in his statement that the league would not allow a franchise to move to the Deep South or the West Coast, "at this time." Stay tuned. The season started with title expectations for one of the three New York area FABL teams and high hopes for a step forward from each of the other two. As the season enters the homestretch things have not gone as expected for any of the three area teams. This was supposed to be the year the Brooklyn Kings won their record 4th straight Continental Association pennant and continued to extend their amazing string of 90+ win seasons that stretched to 5 last season. It was supposed to be the year the New York Stars and New York Gothams each took a big step forward as a new front-office and some key veteran additions were to guide the Stars to respectability while the Gothams, with a brand new stadium in Queens and a boatload of young talent, were to make a solid run at a .500 record and first division status in the Fed. Nothing has really gone according to the plan laid out for the three New York area teams this season. The Brooklyn Kings got off to a slow start and never recovered. They abandoned any hopes of that 4th straight pennant in July when they dealt veteran pitchers Mike Murphy and Joe Shaffner to Detroit and the second half has been an even bigger mess than the first half of the year was for Powell Slocum's boys. How the mighty have fallen. From 90 wins and a pennant a year ago to currently sitting ahead of only the woeful Baltimore Cannons and 5 games below the break even mark. If the Kings .479 winning percentage holds form it will be their worst season output since 1929 and if the last few weeks are any indication we could see a Kings club that fails to win 70 games for the first time in the modern era. Turning our attention to the Gothams this was expected to be the year they took a step forward after three seasons of posting a consecutive seasons of 69,54 and 60 victories. Many of the young prospects were deemed ready. The Gothams were back, maybe not the team that started this decade with 4 pennants in 6 seasons, but a young competitive club with plenty of potential and a shiny new baseball cathedral near the World's Far to show off. There were some positive signs early as they were 2 games over .500 at the beginning of June. Since then the Gothams are 33-54 and their pitching staff is a mess. Certainly Nate Spear (6-0, 2.21) has been a bright spot but with 4 arm injuries in less than a year one has to be concerned about the 23 year old's long-term future. This paragraph penned by the New York World Telegram sums up the Gothams: With the big club sinking into a virtual tie for the basement and the farm system giving up its #1 ranking due to promotions this will be an interesting offseason for the Gothams. While much focus is being directed to the chaos in Baltimore, one has to wonder what is happening with one of the important franchises in the league's largest city. Certainly it is a good sign that the top prospects are advancing and performing well, at least on the offensive side. But who is coming along to keep the other teams off the board? The pitching remains a disaster and the waning fan interest indicates the faithful want answers. Finally let's look at the Stars, who were an amazing story until the past couple of weeks. The Stars exceeded even the most lofty of expectations with an outstanding start and as late as August 1st they had a 3.5 game cushion on their seat atop the Continental Association. You better read that again as I can barely believe what I wrote. It was August 1st and the New York Stars...the Stars...a team that has gone downhill so quickly following their 1932 World Championship that it would have probably crashed through the cellar of the CA had it not been for the cushion of the brutal Baltimore Cannons to slow the slide. The Stars won 99 games in 1932 before winning progressively less each of the next four seasons. Then in 1937 the Stars won just 63 games, but that was an improvement on the previous season. The won 71 a year ago thanks to a strong finish as they, like the Gothams, started to reap the benefit of several years with high draft choices. Flash forward to this past April and there were hopes of a .500 season. But first place? In 1939? Even the most optimistic of Stars fans could never hope for that, but there they were perched atop the Continental Association on August 1st, looking down at the Brooklyn Kings and everyone else. Sure the defense was awful and the pitching inconsistent but the bats were booming at just the right time, with big hits when they were needed most. Moxie Pidgeon (.303,17,75), who came over in what is proving to be a steal of a deal from Washington over the winter, was his usual consistent self and Dave Trowbridge (.336,12,77) looked like he was 32 years old, not his actual 42 as he led the club. There was also a rapidly developing teenage outfielder by the name of Bill Barrett (.285,10,48) to make going to Dyckman Stadium exciting again. Many said it wouldn't last. The odds would catch up to the Stars eventually, the terrible defense would catch up to them and the rest of the Continental Association would catch up to them. Yet the Stars kept shining brightly, the one beacon of hope in an otherwise terrible season for New York baseball....until just as suddenly they weren't. August seemed like it flicked a switch and turned off the Stars. A late July injury that still keeps Barrett sidelined to this day didn't help. A 6 game losing streak to start the month was even worse, dropping the Stars out of first place. A 10-18 month of August left them 4.5 games back of Cleveland. Three straight losses to begin September and now they are 6 back as reality seems to be setting in on what was the last glimmer of hope to prolong what on the whole has been a special decade for New York baseball. It is looking more and more like this will end a 5 year run of a New York team being in the World Championship Series. Eight of the last nine years there has been a New York club in the Series with 1933's Keystones-Cougars matchup the lone exception. In fact, the New York run stretches well beyond a decade as 13 of the previous 16 seasons at least one of the New York clubs has played on the biggest stage. Just think about this incredible run for Big Apple baseball Code:
What will the 1940's bring for New York baseball? Brooklyn looks like it is rebuilding, not a complete tear down like the Gothams endured or a slow prolonged collapse the Stars are just emerging from but it is clear the Kings are no longer favourites to win a pennant every year. The Gothams have had the prospect cake in the oven for several years now and while there is plenty of tasty offensive talent, the pitching staff continues to cause heartburn for manager Ed Ziehl and fans alike. The Stars seem to be close based upon their great start this season but the roster makeup might be flawed due to subpar defense at so many key positions and the pitching staff really needs someone to emerge as the leader. A decade from now will New Yorkers be celebrating another 10 years filled with pennants claimed by the three area teams, or will we be merely left yearning for the glory years from 1923-1938? Either way it is looking like we can put an RIP on 1939 October baseball for New York, as the Stars - our cities last hope - appear to be losing their glimmer- and hope has long vanished for Kings fans while it was never really there this season for Gothams supporters. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 09/04/1939
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September 1939
SEPTEMBER 11, 1939 EDWARD THOMPSON, OWNER OF THE DYNAMOS, DEAD AT 72 Edward "Big Eddie" Thompson, the longtime owner of FABL's Detroit Dynamos has passed away at the age of 72. The cause of death appears to have been a massive coronary. Thompson had already had several cardiac events in the recent past and his health had been in decline for the past year or more, according to sources close to Mr. Thompson who wished to remain anonymous. A lifelong native of Detroit, Eddie Thompson was the son of textile merchant William Thompson, known as "Big Bill" and the founder of the Detroit Dynamos who began play in 1890. Like his father, Eddie was an outsized man, both in personality and in physical terms as well. He would grow to be 6'5 and weighed (in his prime) a solid 235 pounds and earn the nickname "Big Eddie" (his future GM DD Martin would call him "Big Money" which Eddie found amusing). It was at this size that he played the position of tackle on the football team at Detroit City College in the late 1880s. His graduation in 1889 coincided with his father's formation of the Dynamos and for the rest of his life, Eddie Thompson was intimately involved with the baseball club. He worked in the front office for a decade before his father named him the Vice President of the Club. He succeeded to the Presidency and majority ownership role when his father passed away in 1904. Among his many achievements, Thompson began dabbling in real estate and his name is on several buildings in downtown Detroit including the Thompson Hotel and, most famously, Thompson Field, which Eddie opened to much fanfare in 1915. An arena followed a decade-plus later, meaning Eddie Thompson not only owned the city's baseball club, but also owned the venue in which that club, and the city's pro football, basketball and hockey clubs also played. Thompson was a lifelong bachelor and leaves behind no children. His 52% share of the Dynamos, according to the anonymous source, is to be split among three people; his partner (and Dynamos manager) George Theobald will receive 25% (or nearly half) of Thompson's stock, making him at 51%, the club's new majority owner. A 15% share has been left to Thompson's estranged brother, Powell Thompson of Traverse City, Michigan. Most surprising of all is the recipient of the remaining 12% of stock: Roland Barrell. Barrell, son of OSA President Rufus Barrell (and brother to several FABL players) owns the Detroit Maroons football club, which plays in Thompson Field. Barrell had become something of a protege of Mr. Thompson and the two became close. Mr. Barrell will join the Dynamos Board of Directors as a voting member (10% of the stock in the club entitles the holder to a seat on the board). Barrell was not available to comment, though his secretary did issue a statement on the death of Mr. Thompson, offering condolences to his family (Powell) and noting that the "sports world has lost a true giant, in more ways than one." George Theobald, the new majority owner, made a brief statement before his club's game with St. Louis at Thompson Field, promising his club would "make Eddie proud and hopefully bring home both the pennant and the championship this season, in Eddie's honor." The club then went out and shellacked the visiting St. Louis Pioneers by a score of 12-0. DYNAMOS CONTINUE HOT PLAY That 12-0 win over St Louis the day the club learned of Thompson's death was the 8th win in the last 9 games for Detroit and allowed them to remain 4.5 games up on second place Pittsburgh as Miners fans are left stunned at the fact they could win 5 of 6 games last week and still lose a half game in the standings to Detroit. It is now a two-team race as the Boston Minutemen were swept in Detroit to start the week and finished it with a loss to Philadelphia which leaves the Minutemen 7 and a half of the pace. A dreadful 5-14 record this season head-to-head against Detroit can easily be pointed to as the cause of why Boston's stretch without a Federal Association pennant will now reach 24 years. Only Continental clubs Baltimore and Toronto have gone longer without winning a pennant. The Fed race is going to be very interesting down the stretch. Detroit has 26 games left while Pittsburgh has 27. The Dynamo’s have played 70 home games, while the Miners have played 70 road games. With only 7 home games left Detroit is going to have to play well on the road to hang onto its 4.5 game lead. Fortunately for the Dynamos they have almost played as well on the road as they have at home (home winning % .629 while the road mark is at .603). Pittsburgh has been lights out at home 39-18 winning almost 70% of their home games .684 A cause of concern down the stretch in Detroit is Sal Pestilli's ailing shoulder. It has affected his hitting. In September he has managed just a 208 average with 1 home run and 3 RBI's allowing Boston slugging 1B Bob Donoghue the opportunity to take over the FABL home run lead with 29, 1 better than Pestilli's 28. A decision will be made on what to do with Pestilli for this week's 8 games in 7 days as it includes two double headers at the front and back of the week. If Detroit's lead was a little bigger it would be an easy decision, but with Pittsburgh still hanging around at just 4.5 games back the decision is a little more difficult. It could be said that sitting Pestilli this week before the 5 games on the road next week versus Boston and Pittsburgh might be the thing to do. Manager and now majority owner George Theobald is being tight lipped about his plans. Like Detroit in the Fed, Cleveland's lead on the second place New York Stars atop the Continental Association also sits at 4.5 games. The Stars, perhaps spurred on by the return of 19 year old Bill Barrett over the weekend, closed the gap slightly by winning 6 of their 7 games last week including the two Barrett appeared in after missing 6 weeks with a sprained ankle. The young star went 2-for-5 with 3 rbi's over the weekend. The Foresters went 4-2 in their games last week. IS THE PROPOSED SALE OF THE CANNONS TO CINCINNATI ALL A RUSE? It was long overdue but Baltimore Cannons owner Oscar Banner finally stepped up and did what should have been done years ago when two weeks ago he announced that "extensive changes (will be) made this winter." My first question is a simple one. What took you so long? The Cannons have been the laughingstock of FABL for years. We are a month away from what almost assuredly will be their 6th straight last place finish in the Continental Association and they have not had a winning record since 1931. Banner has never been one to seek media attention but I do find it very curious he surfaces now to announce he has a mystery buyer in Cincinnati poised to purchase the team from him but provides no other details about this so-called secret suitor. Two weeks later it is still the best kept secret in baseball and all of my sources, in either Baltimore or Cincinnati, still claiming to have no idea who he could be. Banner's recent press conference just seems so out of character for him. It makes sense to examine Banner's statement on the potential sale to try and discern exactly what the motivation was for making it now rather than at the end of the season or when this "gentleman in Cincinnati" is ready to come forward and make his name known. Why say you have a buyer without giving his name or having a deal in hand? What possible benefit could announcing it now have? I don't think I am the first to wonder out loud if this entire situation is a ruse, a desperate ploy from a man who has had enough of being the owner of the worst team in baseball and just wants out. But is the problem for Banner, perhaps the fact that just maybe there is no mystery man in Cincinnati...no suitor at all to purchase the club whether he be from Cincinnati, Baltimore, Milwaukee or Timbuktu? I can think of only one good reason Banner would reveal he has a buyer but not disclose the name of that person. It would only be if the potential purchaser from Cincinnati was a member of the Tice family. James Tice ran the club when it was a charter club in William Whitney's Century League and from what I recall he did not always see eye to eye with Whitney or some of his fellow owners, even helping form a competing league at one point. He died just prior to the merger that led to the creation of FABL. Had he not passed away many speculate Cincinnati would have been one of the 16 original clubs that were left standing and formed FABL. It is possible a Tice family member is the buyer and wants to gauge the response from those in the league towards a move to Cincinnati before the job convincing owners to allow the shift potentially becomes twice as difficult when it is revealed it is the Tice family? I do not expect there is any lingering resentment towards the Tice clan throughout the league as that was a long, long time ago but perhaps the buyer, if he exists and if indeed he is a Tice, wants to tread very lightly and drop one bomb (the move to Cincinnati) before the second one (that it is the Tice family) is revealed. The only other possibility as I see it is perhaps Banner simply concoct the story in an attempt to stir up interest to force someone in Maryland to step forward and make an offer to purchase this pitiful excuse for a big league ball club? If so, it may have worked to perfection for Mr. Banner. Word is there are several people in Baltimore trying to find the resources to purchase the club and they have even secured the aid of Powell Slocum - the greatest Cannons player of all time - to help in that goal. Now other cities are also said to be getting involved as Milwaukee politicians are certainly talking a big game and groups in Buffalo and New Orleans are also said to have reached out to Banner. I am not saying there is no Cincinnati gentleman involved. I am just saying that IF there isn't then this is perhaps the best move Banner has ever made as owner of the Cannons. Think about it. This team is a mess and maybe if Banner tried to sell it to someone he would have no takers, but he suddenly states he has a buyer lined up in Cincinnati and panic sets in among the Baltimore crowd, suddenly worried they will lose the team forever, a team that has been theirs since 1890. Now the Cannons, that miserable losing bunch, are suddenly more valuable then they were just a moment before because there is a perceived threat the team might leave and once gone getting a big league ballclub back to Baltimore will be a very, very difficult task. If these groups do materialize it will be interesting to see if the league even allows the club to move. No FABL team has ever relocated and the sale will require approval from a majority of the other 15 owners. In that regard New Orleans is clearly out of the running as they would be as likely as a group from Timbuktu at being able to convince other owners of the value to move the club to their city. Milwaukee is certainly a possibility and perhaps Buffalo as well. Maybe even 'competition' from Cincinnati will emerge to try and snatch the Cannons away from the mystery man. Add in a Baltimore group and Banner may have as many as four different groups bidding for the right to purchase his team, thus greatly enhancing his chances of lining his pocketbook with a lot more greenbacks that a team that has spent half a decade in last place would otherwise be worth. And just what would the successful suitor get? Well, without a doubt the worst run organization in baseball - a club surprisingly devoid of high end talent despite picking in the top six of the draft for the past seven season and owning either the first or second overall pick each of the last five. Where does the blame for getting the Cannons in to this mess lie? Is it a bad scouting staff and management team drafting poorly, bad minor league coaching not developing the players properly or just bad luck. Probably a combination of all three but over the years a number of Baltimore draft day decisions have been widely criticized. One thing is certain about Banner's recent press conference: a lot of change is coming in the Cannons organization, one way or the other, over the winter. CANNON FODDER JIGGS MCGEE LOOKS AT WHAT IS AHEAD FOR THE NEXT BALTIMORE GM Right about this time last year TWIFB lead columnist Jiggs McGee was asked to assess the New York Stars organization following the August news of a front office change. McGee felt there was plenty of young talent in the Stars system but much of it was being misused, allowed to wither at the wrong level or playing the wrong position. A new General Manager came riding in on a white horse from Cleveland and quickly turned the franchise around with some judicious trades and other tinkering. The result was in the matter of just a few months the Stars went from being one of the worst teams in baseball to contending for the Continental Association pennant. We asked Jiggs to take a look at the latest team to clean house and tell us just what sort of work lies ahead for the next man to sit in the General Manager's chair in Baltimore...or wherever the club might be located come next April. Here is Jiggs' position by position breakdown of the Baltimore organization. CATCHER 25 year old Joe Rainbow is the current starter. He was acquired in a 1934 deal with the Chicago Cougars that sent Lou Kelly, their best player at the time, away. That was the year the Cannons started their futility run of last place finishes and also the year they dealt everything of quality that wasn't bolted down. Rabbit Day and Ken Carpenter also were moved prior to or during the 1934 season. For those three players they received Rainbow, marginal second baseman John Bernard, Oscar King a defense first shortstop who can't hit if his life depended on it, pitcher Rusty Petrick who is still trying to discover the potential OSA saw in him when he was a top ten prospect and some others who never panned out as well as a first and a second round pick. At least Baltimore softened the blow of those trades slightly by using the picks on Jim Hensley and Fred Galloway, both of whom we will touch on later.So Rainbow is the catcher and slowly replacing veteran Norm Whitney, a 33 year old who really should be a backup playing once or twice a week. I like Rainbow. He plays decent defense, seems to be improving his arm this season and looks like he can hit .260 or so. By no means an all-star but certainly not the weakest spot in the Cannons lineup. Beyond him there is not a lot in the system that is major league ready but I do see a couple of interesting prospects playing in Class B right now. One is Rick York, son of former Detroit Dynamos star catcher Dick York, and a 1938 third round pick. York is having a decent season as a 19 year old in B and OSA sets him just outside the top 100. The other catcher I like is Earl Sanders, a 21 year old taken in the 5th round of the 1936 draft. He hit .256 as an everyday player at the B level a year ago but for some reason the Cannons left him at B again this season and as a result he is hardly playing as just a backup to York. Sanders should be in A ball, let him catch 100 games and see what he can do instead of leaving him to stagnate on the bench at Class B Charleston. Any good general manager knows you need to identify your top prospects and make sure they play at a level that will challenge but not overwhelm them. No other catcher in Baltimore's system is anything more than a depth player or minor league filler. Make it a priority to let both Sanders and York play and see if one of them can develop. FIRST BASE The current first baseman in Baltimore is 27 year old Ken Mayhugh, who came over from Boston prior to last season in the deal that sent one of the Cannons decent young pitchers in John Edwards to the Minutemen. Mayhugh is a natural third baseman but not a great one with the glove so I can see why he has been shifted to first base. What I would love to know is why can't he hit in Baltimore like he did in Boston? As a 25 year old with the Minutemen he hit 17 homers and batted .299 after a .344, 11 homer season in his first full year as a starter. Baltimore's Banner Field is more homer friendly, especially for righthanded bats like Mayhugh, then Cunningham Field in Boston but Mayhugh's slash line dropped in his first year with the Cannons and has fallen further again this season to the point where at .267/.336/.342 he is a far below average bat for a first baseman. One of the first tasks for the new man in Baltimore is to decide if Mayhugh is just having a down season or if he needs to be moved and the search can begin for a better hitting first baseman.Baltimore also has 30 year old Bunny Stapleton (.318,5,47), who has outperformed Mayhugh at first base this season and has pretty consistently been a slightly above average contributor for his role as a reserve. Baltimore does have what looks like a very nice first base prospect in a 22 year old by the name of Don Cress. He was selected in the third round in 1935. He won't be a power guy but might just be someone who can regularly hit over .300. What I don't like is the fact he is still just in 'A' ball. He is hitting just .274 but has a decent OPS+ so in my mind at 22 I want to challenge him a bit. I would really have loved to see Cress spend the second half of the season in AA especially considering the AA Erie team does not have a single natural first baseman on their roster and half the players at on that team are 27 or older and clearly nothing more than filler. Beyond Cress there is little at first base I see of value in the Cannons system. My gut here says Mayhugh is not the answer but will have to do unless the Cannons either find a veteran with some pop in his bat they acquire cheaply or draft and quickly develop someone with sock in has bat to take over the role. SECOND BASE At the keystone in Baltimore presently we have the duo of Charlie Ross and Charlie Willis. Ross is a 24 year old who was one of those lottery players draft signings out of Central Illinois University in 1937. He put up solid numbers in AA last season and after starting this year in AAA was called up in June. He is struggling at the plate right now (.238 average) but it makes sense to let him learn on the job as he is a top thirty prospect with some decent upside. Charlie Willis is 28 and has been in the Cannons system since being selected in the 4th round of the 1933 draft. He did swat .290 in a 60 game trial last season - his first taste of the big leagues - but I don't see him anything more than as a reserve going forward.In the system there are a pair of players with some potential. The first is Vic Frazier, who just turned 22 and was taken in the 4th round in June out of Kit Carson University. The Cannons started him in Class B and he did struggle, batting only .220 before just promoting him to AA, which I feel is a better spot to test him right now. The other player is the one I see as the Cannons future starting second sacker. Howard Rivers is young, just 19, and was their top lottery pick a year and a half ago. I liked him in the draft and I still do but he has not been utilized properly and is upset at his role in the organization because of it. Rivers was in C ball, perhaps a little too low for him but I can accept it due to his age, but what I can't accept is he started barely half the games. In July he was moved to Class B but left to sit on the bench behind Frazier before finally this past month the organization came to it's senses and made Rivers an everyday starter, pushing him up to Class A. I have said it before in this article and I will repeat it one last time- a big reason for the Cannons lack of success developing prospects is they don't develop sitting on the bench. Identify your top prospects and let them learn by being on the ballfield. SHORTSTOP The Cannons shortstop solution is now in AAA and probably should be called up to the big club now that the rosters have expanded for September. Jim Hensley was a first rounder selected 15th overall with a pick that came from the Gothams in the Rabbit Day deal. He has great potential and the close to two full seasons left stagnate at Class B does not seem to have done him any harm, nor did the mostly wasted 1938 campaign that saw him start just 49 games, although perhaps that was due to an overabundance of caution after a minor back injury than because of mismanagement. It matters not now as Hensley was very recently brought up to AAA and should be in Baltimore. He is a plus defender and should develop into a very solid hitter. I see him as a Frank Davis (Montreal) or Billy Hunter (Cougars) type of player, maybe a step or two below the elite guys like George Dawson or Harry Barrell but a solid starting shortstop.Hensley would also be much better than anything the Cannons currently have. Charley McCullough is still young, just 23, and may have a future but his limitations with the glove likely mean it is better to see if he can battle for the second base job. He is having a pretty good year at the plate, at least against lefty's, and perhaps might be a solid platoon piece at second going forward if he is unable to play that position everyday. Pete Asher, a 32 year old journeyman, was recently claimed off the waiver wire in hopes he could be the other half of the platoon with McCullough and provide steady defense. Not a bad signing at no cost but I would still rather trot Hensley out there every day for the next month and see if he is ready to be a key piece next season. There is one other intriguing shortstop in the system. 25 year old Charlie Rivera is pretty strong defensively and was hitting .254 in AAA before his recent promotion to Baltimore. He has been up a couple of times before and is off to a good start at the plate this season but his bat is likely going to keep him on the bench. I do see him as a good utility infielder and one worth developing. THIRD BASE 27 year old Frank Covarrubias might be the closest thing the Cannons have to a star offensive player. He started 106 games as a 25 year old rookie in 1937 but lost his job last season with the acquisition of Mayhugh from Boston until recently regaining it when Mayhugh was shifted to first base.In the same deal that netted Mayhugh the Cannons also received Denny Andrews from Boston. The 11th overall pick in 1936 out of Maryland State seems like a nice fit in Baltimore. He started the season in AAA and was having a decent season but for some reason was demoted to AA in July. He is, understandably not happy with the move and while it has not affected his production I just don't see the reasoning. I also don't see him as a big league third baseman because 1) his defense is weak but more importantly 2) where do you play Covarrubias. Andrews has some limited outfield experience so I would be trying to see what he can do with that and get him some corner outfield starts. His bat needs to be in the lineup. OUTFIELD I think the Cannons are set for years in center field with Fred Galloway, who made the all-star team this season as a 23 year old second year player. Solid defense and looks like a pretty dependable bat. Backup Bob Griffith is also 23 and seems to have some tools but hasn't been given much opportunity behind Galloway. The corners in Baltimore have been patrolled by a pair of average veterans in Calvin Brown and Whit Williams. Both are serviceable but really better suited to backup roles at best. The good news is the future in right field has arrived. Mike T Taylor is 21, a 1936 first rounder ranked in the top 30 by OSA. He was hitting .329 in his first full season of AA until he was called up to Baltimore last month. He is by no means a Sal Pestilli or Bill Barrett, but should be an above average corner outfielder the Cannons can pencil in for the next decade. If Denny Andrews can provide acceptable skills in left the Cannons outfield suddenly looks pretty good in a year or so. What I would do is give Andrews a full year to play left field in AAA next season and grab a veteran (35+) corner outfielder with a bit of pop left in his bat to get you through next season and perhaps help win a few games. There are a lot of them available and if the Cannons hold out until April they might get one for nothing from the waiver wire but even a trade should not cost them much for the right guy. You also have Otis Parker, a 20 year old fifth round pick in 1937 that may just be one of those guys who suddenly develops right after the draft. OSA loves the kid but, guess what, he spent the first half of the season only starting half the time in Class C. The Cannons finally came to their senses and have pushed him up to A and are sending him out there everyday. He might well prove to be a better outfield option than either Taylor or Andrews down the road or could be a valuable trade chip to address other needs. Another player worth watching is 22 year old Nat Drake but the 1935 second rounder must have been told to purchase a house in Charleston as he has not moved from that level in 3 years, although to be fair while his scouting report is good his numbers do not back it up. PITCHING With all of the early draft picks and guys ranked very high over the past few years by OSA you would think the Cannons should have the best young pitching staff in the game, but it just hasn't turned out that way. Deuce Barrell was supposed to be the second coming of Double Al the way he was talked about coming out of high school. You might recall I urged the Cannons to seriously consider trading down with Detroit to grab slugger Red Johnson with the second pick and likely land a bunch of talent from the Dynamos. I could have envisioned Detroit buying in on a draft and trade deal that would have netted Baltimore the Dynamos 1936 first rounder who turned out to be Sal Pestilli. Imagine if Pestilli and Johnson were Cannons instead of in Detroit? That is old news now but I want to add I suggested the move at the time not because I did not like Barrell, quite the contrary I was enamoured with his high school showing as much as anyone, but I recognized the Cannons needed young offense and the relative safety of an offensive prospect instead of the risk that comes with taking all these high school arms.Flash forward a few years and Deuce is 22 years old and maybe now starting to show some of his potential. He is 11-8 this season but still just an average pitcher if you are a believer of the newfangled stats like ERA+ and FIP-. There is room for growth but with his struggles, and those of Gus Goulding, Rusty Petrick and even John Edwards who is now in Boston you have to wonder if something is broken in how the Cannons treat and develop young pitchers coming up through their system. All of these guys looked like can't miss stars but none, at least not yet, have overwhelmed us with their talent. There is of course still hope for Barrell and Goulding, who is 26. Petrick seems lost at 23 having been banished to the bullpen for a stretch and Edwards is not living up to expectations in Boston. So it really leaves the Cannons in a mess. What should have been an extraordinary strength of the club is instead far less than even ordinary at this moment. A big chore for whoever steps in to the General Manager role in Baltimore next is to decide just which of these arms are worth keeping. As it seems to always be the case the past decade there are more highly ranked by OSA arms in the Baltimore system as well. 1939 first rounder Vic Carroll is ranked as a top 10 prospect by OSA and the 21 year old looked okay in his debut at Class A, so much so he has been pushed to AA where he appears overmatched at the moment but is likely gaining valuable experience to start next season at that level. The Cannons, as they always seemed to do, bypassed a number of solid hitting prospects to snag another pitcher in the second round in January. Jackie James is a high schooler who will likely need several years of seasoning but OSA calls him a top 100 guy as well. But getting top 100 pitching prospects has never been Baltimore's problem. Developing them in to solid major leaguers on the other hand, well that has been a tough task for the organization. SUMMARY I have outlined a few things the GM needs to look at such as deciding which pitchers he wants to focus on and which could possibly be trade bait, as well as adding some veteran bats to a team that ranks dead last in nearly every key stats category (although it's worth noting their pitching is at the bottom as well and just to be consistent so is there defense).I would start by going through the minor league staff and don't be afraid to make a number of changes, especially the pitching coaches. Something has to be broken in the way the Cannons develop talent and fixing whatever it is has to be the priority although just getting prospects at the appropriate level and playing regularly is a huge first step. It also seems like there is a lot of infighting going on in the minors and morale is shot. Losing is a factor of course, and 3 of the Cannons farm teams sit in last place and only Class A Camden is better than 7th in it's league, but there may be more to it and fixing personality clashes amongst the coaching staff is much easier when it appears few of the staff members in the system are actually worth keeping. Get a new manager at the big league level asap as well but that should go without saying. John Lawrence was a bad choice three years ago, clearly in over his head when the long-time high school manager spent just 3 sasons in Class C only to suddenly be thrust into a cancerous situation with a bad Baltimore team. A strong presence in the manager's office is a must. Find some veterans who can help you win a few games while you wait for your plan to develop. Perhaps a bigger trade like the New York Stars, who were in a somewhat similar situation last season, pulled off to land Moxie Pidgeon from Washington but it does not need to be that dramatic. Diligent attention to the waiver wire will help as will contacting other teams about players they have who might be out of minor league options and could be added very inexpensively. The waiver signing last month of 35 year old Walter Murphy is a good example. Murphy is 2-1 with a 3.86 era in 4 starts with the Cannons. He is not the long term solution by any stretch but is a stopgap who can win you a few games and winning a few games has to happen and soon in Baltimore. The goal for 1940 for the new GM should simply be "Don't finish last." Then try to build from there. One step at a time. It will be a long process but there are some building blocks, and perhaps some trade chips not to mention another top two draft pick likely coming in January. 1940 DRAFT PREVIEW To complete our preliminary look at some of the top prospects available when the 1940 draft begins in January we will focus on the top high school senior position players. It is early and scouting reports will change but right now OSA feels there are a number of talented catchers available but for teams looking for a middle infielder this might not be the draft to provide much high end high school talent in that area. 1- JIMMY J. WALKER OF Linwood (PA) High School: Walker has just one season of high school ball under his belt but what a year it was as he was named an All-American and TWIFB dubbed Walker "Mr Baseball" for the state of Pennsylvania last year. He hit .512 with 19 stolen bases for Linwood High last season. Only 4 homers but OSA feels his power will improve to match would should be a solid batting average and a plus-plus eye. If Walker fulfills his potential, OSA sees multiple All-Star games in his future. Walker is certain to become the second player drafted out of Linwood High, following infielder Vern Sanders who was selected by the New York Stars in round 17 of the 1936 draft. 2- DICK BLASZAK OF Morris High School, Bronx, NY: He did not play as a freshman but is a two-time All-American with a .520 career high school average and 23 homers in 46 games. Nicknamed "The Polish Hammer" his outstanding power potential is Blaszak's greatest attribute. Great size at 6'2" and 185 lbs despite the fact he won't even turn 18 until November. OSA feels he will develop into an elite big league corner outfielder. Morris High School has produced a pair of talented players already in the post feeder era. Charley McCullough was an 8th round pick of Baltimore in 1934 and has already played 116 games for the Cannons while Joe Boyd was a third round pick of Detroit's from the school in 1935. Unfortunately injuries forced Boyd to retire at 21 after a promising 20 year old season in which he went 10-4 at Class B. 3- BILL BARNETT 1B Brunswick (OH) High School: Not to be confused with New York Stars budding superstar Bill Barrett, with whom Barnett shared a spot on the High School All-American team as sophomore in 1938. Barnett was selected to the All-American squad again last season as a junior after tying Dick Blaszak for second in the nation in homers with 11 in 21 games. His 26 homers over 3 seasons are the fifth most all-time among high school players post-feeder leagues and he still has a year left to pass them. Only Walt Messer (38), Si Crocker (32), Pete Casstevens (31) and Rich York (28) hit more. Two previous Brunswick, Ohio natives were drafted (Bob Stout 1928 24th rd and Carlos Villa 1912 10th rd) but neither ever made it to the big leagues. 4- JOHN MOSS CF Lexington (KY) High School: Moss is a cousin of veteran Chicago Chiefs outfielder Cliff Moss. Both were center fielders entering the draft but unlike Cliff, who quickly shifted to a corner, scouts project John to be an impact defender in centerfield. Good speed and very selective at the plate so might be a solid choice as a future lead-off hitter. He hit .474 with 45 walks and just 8 strikeouts in 51 career high school games during his first two seasons at Lexington High. 5- JOE RUTHERFORD OF Chillicothe (OH) High School: Three straight seasons batting over .500 including a career best .515 last year earned the 16 year old (turns 17 in October) Rutherford honourable mention status on the All-American team. Not really a power guy but Rutherford does possess blazing speed and above average contact potential. Rutherford was born in Middletown, Ohio home of Monroe Johnson who briefly played for the Cougars and Sailors in 1896. The New York Stars drafted a Middletown native each of the past two years, taking pitcher Charlie Griffith in the 10th round in 1937 and second baseman Lee Nelson with their 25th and final pick this past June. 6- LOU BAYER C Hatboro (PA) High School: The first of several very highly thought of catchers, the 17 year old Bayer is a Philadelphia native who earned honourable mention on last season's High School All-American squad. He started two years at Hatboro High and is a .447 hitter with a bit of pop, smacking 9 homers in 49 games. OSA sees him as a reliable hitter, maybe even someone who can bat .330 in his prime. Was a teammate of Tony Onofre, a third baseman the Gothams selected with their 21st round pick in June. 7- BILL GROVE 3B Swedesboro (NJ) High School: The 16 year old third baseman joins 1B Bill Barnett as the only infielders to crack the top ten. He is young (turns 17 later this month) and inexperienced (just one season of high school ball) but OSA likes his defense at the hot corner. Grove's glove, combined with a quick bat that has a knack for making hard contact should allow him to develop into a solid starting third baseman. 8- BILL PAYNE OF Noblesville (IN) High School: Born in Brooklyn but grew up in Indiana so he is a New Yorker for determining regional round eligibility. Started all 3 seasons so far, batting .503 with 8 homers in 68 games. Has plus contact ability and a good eye so he could be a second division starter according to OSA. The knock on Payne is there are questions surrounding the amount of effort he consistently puts in. 9- FRANCOIS LAURENT C Suffern (NY) High School: Canadian born catcher's bat and hustle should make him a frontrunner for an audition in the majors one day. Hit .495 as a sophomore in his first season at Suffern High but dipped to .436 a year ago. Originally from London, Ontario Laurent moved to the United States to pursue his pro dreams. He is one of a surprisingly long list of London born players to play in the pros including 6 who made the big leagues led by former Miners and Chiefs catcher John Condon, who mentored Laurent as a youth. 10- JOHNNY THACKER Portsmouth (OH) High School: West Virginia born Thacker gets the nod for the final spot just ahead of a pair of other catchers in George P Taylor and Friedrich Werner. Scouts love the intangibles about this guy: intelligent and well respected by teammates, looks like the type of player who seems certain to have a managerial career after he retires. Played just one season so far but hit .451 and scouts feel his best asset is his above average contact potential. Hails from the same hometown (Charleston, WV) as Chicago Cougars pitcher Pug Bryan. That completes the preliminary look at OSA's top prospects. Next time we will attempt provide a preliminary mock first round ranking of the talent. War thunder, rumbling over embattled Europe, has started to destroy sports. This, of course, is unimportant, perhaps unworthy of mention. What's sport to death and devastation around Warsaw, a torpedoed Athenia at midnight with a cargo of women and children, 200 miles off Ireland in the gray Atlantic. True, what is sport against a game in which the winner often drops an arm, leg, eyesight or reason and the loser seldom hears the cheers, no matter how courageous his stand? Nevertheless, sport has staggered under it's first crash from the thunder and lightning of war. The Ryder Cup matches have been wiped out. Progress on the Olympic program has been suspended with the threat of complete cancellation hanging over Finland's millions, already spent. All sport has been ordered out in the warring countries and our big league hockey will certainly be scratched off the Winter program if Canada goes in? And if so, what of FABL's Continental Association? Will games continue in Toronto and Montreal over the final month of schedule or even next year? If the war thunder rolls over into the new year the Davis Cup, for which 30 nations have clashed will go and so will the Wightman Cup, the Walker Cup, the international polo trophy and lesser baubles. Prolonged war would mean the end of Wimbledon, the British Open and Amateur gold championships, the famous English and French horse races, the European auto classics. There would be no regatta on the Thames, no international soccer with it's crowds of 150,000. Even our impending national tennis tournament, due this weekend, has already felt the effect of the present European carnage. The invaders will not be with us. But worst of all is the slow recovery that can be expected from a drawn-out war, the comeback from the toll in human wreckage. When Mars lets loose his sinister call to war he picks the best of athletes. Even those that survive sometimes return without the physical equipment to take up where they left off or the loss of appetite for sport. However, sports' loss is unimportant. What's there to victory or defeat in any game when women and kids and old men cringe in dark streets while sirens screech against the ominous drone of death overhead. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 09/10/1939
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September 1939
SEPTEMBER 18, 1939 IS PROSPECTIVE "NEW" OWNER FROM FAMILIAR STOCK? The baseball fans of Cincinnati are buzzing (as are those in Buffalo, Milwaukee and even New Orleans) about the possibility of FABL's Baltimore Cannons moving to their city for the 1940 season. The rumor mill has been going full tilt since the Cannons' current owner Oscar Banner mentioned that an unnamed person in Cincinnati had expressed interest in his club, with the assumption following that this new owner would move the club to the Queen City. Now, a reporter's happenstance encounter at Cincinnati's Monarchs Park might have unearthed that mystery man's identity. While walking past the current home of the Triple-A Cincinnati Steamers, a columnist for one of the city's dailies happened to look through the gate and saw two men in deep discussion. One of them was holding what appeared to be a set of blueprints, and both men were in animated conversation, with each peering down at the unrolled paper in the second man's hands. The Steamers were away on a road trip and no one, theoretically, should have been in the stadium. The reporter noted that the first man was gesturing at the stands, along the baseline, sweeping his hand left-to-right and motioning upwards. The first man rubbed his chin and nodded, then both again referred to the "blueprints" and continued their conversation. The columnist, who typically writes about business and economic matters, recognized the first man immediately. He reports this man was John Erasmus Tice, scion of the famous Tice family of Cincinnati. The Tice family is best known as the founders of the famous Tice & Chiles Company, which began as a soap and candle-maker in the 1840s and today is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of soap, detergent and other household goods. John E. Tice is the company's current President and CEO. He is also the grandson of James Tice, who famously founded both the Cincinnati Monarchs Baseball Club and the Border Association, the forerunner of FABL's Continental Association. The elder Tice passed away in 1891, shortly before William Whitney famously brokered the "peace" that ended the Century League-Border Association war and founded the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues. The columnist, believing he had a scoop that would make him the envy of the newsroom, waited until Tice and his unnamed associate left the ballpark. As Tice approached a waiting car, the columnist approached. As he was known to Tice, the businessman stopped and shook his hand. The man asked point-blank if Tice was at the ballpark because he was the unnamed suitor mentioned by Oscar Banner. Tice's mouth twitched in a smirk and he gave a terse, "No comment" before excusing himself and stepping into the waiting car, which promptly sped off. As the famous saying goes, "Where there is smoke, there is fire," and in this case, it certainly appears that John Tice might just be the man seeking to return big league baseball to Cincinnati for the first time in nearly fifty years. STARS, MINERS CLOSE GROUND ON LEADERS The New York Stars and Pittsburgh Miners each made a statement that neither is conceding the pennant just yet. Time may be winding down with just 3 weeks remaining in the season but both the Stars and Miners are within striking distance of the front-running Cleveland Foresters in the Continental Association and Detroit Dynamos in the Federal Association. The Dynamos and Foresters are very close geographic rivals and share the common thread of a General Manager who has led both teams to great success in recent years but they have never faced each other in the World Championship Series and both the Stars and Miners would like to see that trend continue. New York just won't go away in the Continental Association as they are certainly the surprise club of the season and have shown some great resilience in battling back in September after a dreadful 10-18 August. The Stars have won 10 of their last 14 games and are now within 3.5 games of the front-running Foresters. However, one can't help but think the Stars missed a glorious opportunity this past weekend as, while Cleveland was losing 4 straight, the Stars could only split their 4 games with the two bottom feeders of the CA this season in Brooklyn and Baltimore. One can't help but think the Stars season might just come down to a 3-game set in Cleveland a week and a half from now. The Pittsburgh Miners are slowly making up ground in the Fed as they continue to charge back after a terrible 10-17 July destroyed the lead they had built up in the first half of the season. Detroit's margin atop the Federal Association is down to three games after the Dynamos went just 3-4 this past week while the Miners were winning 5 of 7 including a weekend split with the fading Boston Minutemen. The Minutemen were the team that hastened the Miners July swoon when they swept their 6 games head to head that month. A big reason for Pittsburgh's success of late is the club has been staying healthy, although Jack Cleaves did get nicked up the other day but the Miners expect him to just miss 1 game at most. The older Pittsburgh arms of Charlie Stedman (11-18, 3.17), who has pitched much better than his record indicates, and Karl Johnson (19-10, 3.35) have held up and so for the most part has slugger Mahlon Strong (.333,13,76) who, when he next takes the field it will be his 93rd game of the season, most in his 3 seasons in Pittsburgh. In preseason previews it was speculated injuries could decide the Federal Association crown but that statement was intended to talk about the older and much more injury prone Miners, not the Detroit Dynamos but here we are in September and it is the Detroit roster that is feeling the crunch. Charlie Wheeler (11-6, 3.06) suffered a season ending shoulder injury in late August but Detroit has survived that rather well thanks in no small part to the acquisitions of Mike Murphy (11-12, 4.37) and Joe Shaffner (10-12, 3.35) who are a combined 13-8 since being moved to the Dynamos. What is much more difficult to overcome are the injuries to both Pestilli brothers. First Alf (.296,23,71), another mid-season pickup from Brooklyn, was shelved at the end of August with a hamstring problem that continues to sideline him. Now Sal (.253,28,109) - the reigning Whitney Award winner - was forced to sit out last week as the shoulder he banged up in late August continues to give him trouble. It is expected with big series coming up against Boston and Pittsburgh over the next week and a half the Dynamos will allow Sal to play if he is at all able to, but the question is just how effective will he be. With the Detroit injuries and 11 straight home games coming up, including a pair against the Dynamos, the Pittsburgh Miners have to feel fairly confident about their chances to get back on even footing with Detroit, which must play it's next 10 and 15 of their final 18 games away from Thompson Field. Not so long ago Boston was celebrating taking over top spot in the Fed but a stretch that saw the club go 12-21 while both Detroit and Pittsburgh were surging crushed the hopes of all but the most ardent of Minutemen fans, who continue cringe whenever they can hear the chant 1915! 1915! over the airwaves as they listen to Boston games via radio from visiting stadiums. The reference by opposing crowds is to mock that club over the fact that the Minutemen have gone longer than any other team in the Fed without a pennant, a drought that traces back to the previously mentioned 1915 campaign. There may still be a small glimmer of hope for Boston as they do have 15 of their final 20 games at home including 3 this week against Detroit but first they desperately need a win today in Pittsburgh. The Pennant Chase report gives Boston a 0.5% chance of winning the pennant but there have been some great near comebacks in recent years. While no one has ultimately been successful overcome a deficit that large a pair of teams came very close, which perhaps gives Boston fans a small sliver of hope. Just last year the Toronto Wolves turned a 9 game deficit in late August to a 2.5 game lead on Brooklyn heading into the final week of the season. The Kings salvaged their season by winning 5 of 6 that final week while the pack of young Wolves folded under the pressure of a pennant race. It was still a very impressive comeback bid from Toronto. Back in 1927 the Detroit Dynamos were 11 games back of Philadelphia in the Federal Association with 40 games left to play. Detroit came storming back while the Keystones finished the season 15-25 before Bill Ross threw a shutout in the one-game playoff to salvage the pennant for Philadelphia. Detroit did win the Fed two years later though so maybe that is the most positive thing that Minutemen fans can take from this column. It is almost assuredly not their year this season but the club is improving and maybe they can silence the 1915 chant in the next season or two. As for this year it is easy to point to the Minutemen's dreadful 5-14 record against Detroit that included 6 straight losses to the Dynamos over the past month. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 09/17/1939
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September 1939
SEPTEMBER 25, 1939 ONE FOR THE MINERS The Pittsburgh Miners shut out the Detroit Dynamos 2-0 yesterday in the opener of a crucial two game set between the two contenders for the Federal Association pennant. It was a terrific pitching duel between the co-favorites for this year's Allen Award and Lefty Allen (22-7, 3.29) beat Frank Crawford (23-6, 2.58) with both pitching complete game 5-hitters. No the award is not named after Lefty - that honor actually goes to Double Al, former pitching legend Al Allen- but Lefty already has one of the awards on his mantle and with a 5-0 record in 6 September starts. 0.98 ERA, 34:9 K:BB ratio so he is charging hard for a second one. Allen was terrific yesterday, allowing only one Detroit base runner to reach as far as second until getting in to a bit of trouble in the ninth inning with runners on the corners before inducing a game ending double play ground out from Leon Drake to preserve the shutout. Crawford was nearly as good but a slow start proved his, and Detroit's, undoing. After Crawford retired Joe Owens to start the game the Miners spanked out 4 straight singles which combined with a walk to John Turner allowed Pittsburgh to plate both their runs in the bottom of the first. Crawford would be outstanding the rest of the way allowing just one more baserunner the entire game but Allen kept the Detroit offense in check preserving the 2-0 Miners victory, allowing Pittsburgh to creep to within a half game of the first place Dynamos. Pittsburgh won 6 of 7 games last week while the Dynamos had to settle for a 3-3 record making today's game between the two clubs extremely important. For the Miners a victory would move them back into first place for the first time since the morning of July 11th, the day they were tied for top spot with Boston before dropping both ends of a twin bill to the Minutemen. Up to that point the Miners had been in top spot virtually the entire first half of the season. Following today's contest with Detroit the Miners have 12 games remaining with 3 in Boston and the other 9 against the bottom three clubs in the Fed. Detroit might have it slightly easier with all 11 of their remaining contests beyond today's Pittsburgh matchup with clubs presently in the second division. Over in the Continental Association things remained status quo as both Cleveland and the New York Stars went 4-2 last week leaving the Foresters still holding a 3.5 game lead. The two clubs meet on the shores of Lake Erie for a crucial 3-game series beginning Tuesday. It must be very nice indeed to be Baltimore Cannons owner Oscar Banner. He sits, like a fat spider in the middle of its web, trying to decide which juicy fly to grab. One strand holds Cincinnati, once the key member of a major baseball league and now looking to return to the big time. Another thread leads to Milwaukee, whose mayor has already gone on record as saying the city would foot the bill to expand their ballpark to accommodate big league baseball. The longest thread leads all the way to New Orleans where a group has pledged their city would be big league all the way should the Cannons come down N'awlins' way. Big the strand that thrummed the loudest this week is the one labeled "Buffalo" another city that once upon a team did hold big league aspirations (and a club to match) and is looking to get back into the fast lane. While his city's Triple-A Buffalo Nickels (affiliated with the Toronto Wolves whose den is just over 100 road miles away in Ontario) are mired in last place in the Union League, Buffalo Mayor Thomas Holling commented publicly on his belief that the best destination for the Cannons is his city. "We have, bar none, the best location of any of the prospective cities mentioned by Mr. Banner," Holling told reporters in an informal meeting at City Hall. "We have the Wolves right across Lake Ontario. And then we have the Cleveland Foresters nestled along the shore of Lake Erie... a shore we share. A Battle of Lake Erie, would be one the fans would enjoy." He then referenced that the distance from his city to the Continental Association's eastern clubs is far more advantageous than, say, Milwaukee or Cincinnati. He openly scoffed at New Orleans' bid. "Not a chance," he said with a dismissive wave. "Look, we sit a lot closer to the majority of CA clubs than the other cities. New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Montreal are all much closer to us here in Buffalo. The only advantage for Milwaukee is Chicago and for Cincinnati, it's Cleveland. Otherwise, we beat 'em all, hands down." Having displayed his grasp of baseball geography, the mayor then addressed the financial aspect. "Buffalo Memorial Stadium is much closer to FABL standards than the parks in Milwaukee or Cincinnati. New Orleans? Please..." He paused a moment and then said that he had the backing of City Council to put a second deck on Memorial Stadium, noting that this would increase seating from the current 22,000 to "somewhere around 40,000. And we'd fill those seats, never you fear." Down in Maryland all this talk likely put an even bigger smile on Banner's face. With no less than four cities lining up for his team, not to mention his own city's desire to keep them - and a local group willing to pay to do it, Banner is in a power position. Not too shabby for a fellow whose team hasn't sniffed the first division in nearly a decade. SLOCUM GIVEN OKAY Reports out of Brooklyn indicate that Kings owner Daniel Prescott has quietly given manager Powell Slocum the okay to join the Cannons organization if the group Slocum is involved with is successful in purchasing the club and keeping it in Baltimore. Slocum, who has managed the Kings to three straight Continental Association pennants, is a Baltimore legend and baseball's all-time hits leader. He has two years remaining on his contract with Brooklyn after this season but with the Kings struggling and seemingly in the midst of a rebuild Prescott felt Slocum deserved the opportunity to return to Baltimore if he so chose. TWIFB WAY TOO EARLY 1940 MOCK DRAFT FIRST ROUND Things will certainly change between now and January and there will be 40 additional players when the draft pool is finalized but if the draft was held today here are the players TWIFB projects to comprise the first round of the draft. This list is based primarily on the OSA scouting reports. For a complete bio on each of the players on this list feel free to scan through earlier editions of TWIFB when we did a detailed breakdown of top college and high school players. Jimmie J Walker, a Pennsylvania outfielder that hit .512 last season in his high school baseball debut, tops the list. The 17 year old (he turns 18 next month) from Linwood High is a player OSA could see making multiple trips to the All-Star Game. Here is the complete first round as we see it now: Code:
# NAME POS AGE SCHOOL HOMETOWNQUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 09/24/1939
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October 1939
OCTOBER 2, 1939 GET READY FOR A PAIR OF WILD FINISHES It's hard for a baseball fan to ask for much better than this. With one week remaining in the season we have a pair of terrific pennant races to close out the 1939 campaign. In the Federal Association the Pittsburgh Miners have pulled ahead of Detroit and cling to the slimmest of leads, a half game up on the second place Dynamos. The Continental Association race got very interesting in the middle of last week when the surprising New York Stars (yes they have been great all year but we still will call what they have done this season 'surprising') went into Cleveland and beat the front-running Foresters three straight games. Cleveland rebounded over the weekend, ending the Philadelphia Sailors dreams by taking three of the four games in their series while the Stars did the same in their 4 game set with Brooklyn. The result is the Foresters have a game and a half lead on New York with 6 games remaining (7 for the Stars). FEDERAL ASSOCIATION RACE Last week started nicely for Detroit as the Dynamos salvaged a split of their short two-game series in Pittsburgh by rallying with 7 runs in the final 2 innings to double the Miners 8-4. Frank Vance was the hero as the mid-season pickup from Brooklyn who had previously spent the bulk of his career in Detroit, delivered a 5-hit game that was capped by a 2-run homer in the ninth inning to ensure the Miners would not come back on this day. That win gave Detroit a 1.5 game cushion but two days later it was gone as the Dynamos stubbed their toe in Washington by dropping two of three while the Miners were waltzing past the New York Gothams three times. Both clubs won on Friday and Detroit regained the 1/2 game lead Saturday by outslugging the Gothams 10-8 while Boston played spoiler with a walk-off 5-4 win...literally as Miners reliever Speed Brown issued a bases loaded free pass to the Minutemen's Charlie Reed to plate the deciding run. Yesterday it tipped back in Pittsburgh's favour as the Miners, behind Karl Johnson's career best 23rd win of the season, beat Boston 7-4 while in Detroit Charlie Sutton of the visitors pitched the best game of his young career, silencing the Dynamos bats in a 2-1 victory for the Gothams. Which brings us to today and the Miners have 6 games left with a half game lead on Detroit. The pennant, which would be the first for the Dynamos in a decade, comes down to a road test for George Theobald's boys. Detroit finishes with 5 games on the road, 2 in Chicago and 3 in New York. Pittsburgh has 4 on the road where they are mortal (37-36) and the final 2 at home against Washington where they are now over .700 with a 53-22 record. Neither team will be at full strength as the Miners run of injury free baseball came to an end on Friday when Jack Cleaves (.326,7,57) broke his kneecap ending the third baseman's season the same way it started - on the injured list as Cleaves missed much of May and June with another unrelated knee issue. Pittsburgh has survived injuries in the past as the 1937 season was one trip to the trainers room after another for the club but they still managed to win their first Federal Association pennant since 1924. Detroit has decided more rest is hopefully the solution for Sal Pestilli's ailing shoulder. The young superstar has been bothered by it since the end of August and it showed on the field with a .189 batting average for September. After going 0-for-4 against New York yesterday the Dynamos have announced Sal will sit out the 2 games in Chicago which, combined with off days Monday and Thursday, will give the reigning Whitney Award winner 4 days rest. The hope is his ailing shoulder will finally heal for a big finish in the Big Apple. The real debate in Detroit will be how to set up the pitching staff for the 5 games this week. With the potential of a playoff game next Monday a decision has to be made on who would start that game. When asked the question, manager George Theobald stated “You have to win the games this week before you worry about a potential 155th game on Monday. If we don't win 4 or all 5 remaining games, it likely won't matter on Monday. So we will put our best out there to win every scheduled game this week, that is our priority.” No word out of Pittsburgh on how their rotation will shape up but the expectation is Lefty Allen (23-7, 3.25) will go Tuesday in Washington after the day off tomorrow. Then expect a steady diet of Charlie Stedman (12-19, 3.24) and Karl Johnson (23-10, 3.35) with perhaps one start from Roger Perry (9-8, 4.76) thrown in. STARS SWEEP FORESTERS TO MAKE FOR INTERESTING WEEK AHEAD Forgive Cleveland fans if they felt the Continental Association pennant race was over last Monday after their hometown heroes topped Baltimore 8-6 while the second place New York Stars were blasted 10-0 by Philadelphia. That gave the Foresters what looked like a commanding 4.5 game lead entering a 3-game series with the Stars at Forester Stadium. Win two at home from the Stars and the pennant was Cleveland's. Even taking one of the three would still leave the Foresters in pretty good shape but the New York Stars continue to defy the odds this season. You have to think the Stars would have been devastated after getting blown out by the Sailors but they have proved to be a resilient bunch all season. That resilience came in to play in the series opener as the Foresters built a quick 3-1 lead and then, after the Stars took a 4-3 lead on a 3-run shot from ageless wonder Dave Trowbridge in the top of the 7th inning, that resolve would need testing again as the Foresters quickly responded with a pair of their own to regain the lead in the bottom of the inning. All that meant was we would need more New York dramatics and pinch-hitter Jim Honeywood, who had hit just one homerun all season entering the game, delivered with another 3-run shot and this lead would survive giving the Stars a 7-5 victory and moving to within 3.5 games of Cleveland. The loss was even tougher to take for the Foresters as shortstop George Dawson (.308,6,59) broke a bone in his foot, ending his season and dealing a huge blow to the club. Trowbridge was the star of the show the next day with a 4 hit game while youngster Bill Barrett and veteran Moxie Pidgeon each drove in 3 runs to lead New York to a convincing 13-6 victory and the Foresters appeared to be the team on the ropes. That feeling only intensified for Cleveland fans on Thursday when Jim Honeywood struck again. The 27 year old, who was waived by Montreal in April, has found his calling as a pinch-hitter in New York. Honeywood is batting .333 with 2 pinch-hit homers and 17 rbi's. Three of those RBI's came Tuesday to beat Cleveland and two more of them came in the ninth inning of Thursday's contest when Honeywood snapped a 1-1 tie with a 2-run double in a game the Stars would win 5-1 and cut the deficit to just a game and a half. It remained that way as the week came to a close with Cleveland bouncing back to take 3 of 4 from Philadelphia while the Stars did the same over Brooklyn. We enter the final week with Cleveland playing 3 at home against Toronto starting Tuesday before finishing up with 3 games in Philadelphia against the Stars, who while still not officially eliminated are presently 6 games back. The Stars open and close the week with Brooklyn, playing at home Monday before finishing the season at Kings County Ballpark on Saturday and Sunday. In between they have 4 home games, two each vs Baltimore and Montreal. It will be interesting if the season ending series in Brooklyn has an impact on the pennant race. The Kings had seen their pennant hopes crushed by New York a few seasons back and would long to return the favour. Interesting if they do it would be Cleveland that would be the beneficiary of the New York-Brooklyn rivalry once again. HONEYWOOD - PINCH-HITTER EXTRAORDINAIRE In a season in which few expected the New York Stars to be a pennant contender it seems only fitting that the hero of last week's New York sweep in Cleveland would be a player very few fans have ever noticed. They certainly know the name Jim Honeywood in Cleveland now. He is hitting .333 with 2 homers and 17 rbi's as a pinch-hitter this season (.311,2,17 overall) but it is against the Foresters where Honeywood really shines. In 14 pinch-hit attempts this season vs Cleveland the 27 year old is 8-for-12 with 2 walks, a home run and 7 rbi's. He came to the plate twice against Cleveland in the big series between the Stars and Foresters last week and delivered big both times. In Tuesday's opener he socked a 3-run homer in the 8th inning to lift the Stars to a 7-5 victory and on Thursday his 2-run double in the 9th snapped a 1-1 tie and keyed a 5-1 New York victory. Jim Honeywood was actually a pretty decent prospect back in the day, being selected out of high school in the third round of the 1929 draft by the St Louis Pioneers. He even made the top 100 prospect list for a few years but was dealt from St Louis to Montreal in 1934 while still in the minor leagues. So he had some promise and was included in a deal that sent a young Tom Bird and Jake DeYoung to Montreal for catcher Heinie Zimmer and OF Al Tucker. He made his big league debut with the Saints in 1934, but hit just .200 in 25 at bats and would split the next three seasons between AA and AAA. Out of minor league options, he spent all of last season on the Saints roster, and hit .281 primarily as a pinch-hitter. The Saints decided to waive him in April and the Stars picked him up. From his first game in a New York uniform it was clear that the unusual could and would happen for the Stars this season. That contest was on May 1st and came against his former team. Honeywood entered as a pinch-hitter in the 7th inning of what was looking like a rout for the Stars. He grounded out in his first at bat with New York but it did plate Moxie Pidgeon with a run to make the score 10-0 at the time. The Stars left him in the game to play second base and while he did not make a play in the field it would turn out his bat was needed as the Saints rallied for 10 runs to tie the game heading into the bottom of the ninth. Perhaps showing what was to come, Honeywood singled and then scampered home with the game-winning run on a Ralph Connor double. Since then he is 21-for-63 as a pinch hitter and the Stars hope he has just a little more magic left in his bat next week. BANNER'S BALTIMORE DECISION MAY DETERMINE KINGS FATE As the Brooklyn Kings worst season since 1924 winds down there remain plenty of rumours swirling around town that manager Powell Slocum and Scouting Director John Spears appear poised to bolt the club for Baltimore if the Cannons do not relocate. Now there is talk that Slocum, the greatest player in Cannons history, and Spears, a Baltimore native, may be joined in the exodus by General Manager Tiger Fan. Nothing is set in stone and it really all hinges on Oscar Banner, the current Baltimore owner. It is unlikely any of the three will leave, and certainly not Slocum who had a falling out with the organization prompting his trade to Brooklyn a decade and a half ago, if Banner decides not to sell the club. If Banner sells them to a party outside of the city with plans to move the club Slocum and Spears will stay in Brooklyn. However, while he has not spoke publicly on the matter, those close to the Brooklyn GM have hinted he would be willing to consider a move from Brooklyn but is leaning towards remaining with the Kings. It appears only if the consortium of Baltimore businessmen, who Slocum helped put together, are successful in their bid to purchase the squad that there will be a dramatic change in the Brooklyn hierarchy with all three leaving. The 53 year old Slocum, a Hall of Fame player and baseball's all-time hit king, has managed Brooklyn twice with a stint in Pittsburgh in between. Since taking over the Kings for his most recent run early in the 1935 campaign Slocum has guided the club to 4 straight 90-win seasons and 3 consecutive pennants prior to this seasons debacle. Spears, 49, has been Brooklyn's Scouting Director since 1931. If he leaves the club after 14 seasons in Brooklyn, Tiger Fan will go out as the most successful executive in Kings history with his legacy being headlined with the fact he ended the so-called "Curse of Ferdinand Hawkins" when the club won it's first World Championship title two years ago. He will also have guided the team to a 1176-974 record, 4 pennants, 3 second place finishes and six 90-win seasons. However, his legacy is also tarnished by missed opportunities as the Kings won just 1 World Championship and their three second place finishes were by a combined total of 4 games back of the pennant winners in those years including coming up 1 game short in back to back seasons behind Cleveland. For his part, Brooklyn owner Daniel Prescott has remained tight-lipped although he did recently acknowledge that despite the terrible season his club has endured Prescott would welcome all three back next season. However, Prescott did add that he understood completely if any of them felt they desired a new challenge. While Tiger Fan has worked on a series of one year contracts with Prescott and his predecessor the late Malcolm Presley, there is the matter of contracts to deal with should Slocum and/or Spears want out. Slocum is under contract thru the 1941 season and Spears signed a five year extension in the spring designed to keep him in Brooklyn until 1944. While Prescott appears willing to not stand in their way should they wish to move, it is expected he would demand compensation in return. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/02/1939
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1939 End of Regular Season
OCTOBER 9, 1939 MINERS AND STARS SURVIVE TIGHT PENNANT RACES It went right down to the final out but the Pittsburgh Miners won their second Federal Association pennant in the past three years as they held off the Detroit Dynamos by a single game. While Detroit was completing a 3-game sweep of the New York Gothams in their season ending series including a 4-2 win in Sunday's finale, the Miners were trying desperately to hold on to beat the Washington Eagles and preserve their 1 game lead. It looked like Sunday's game would be spent celebrating the impending pennant after Pittsburgh struck for 4 runs in the bottom of the first inning and by the end of seven enjoyed a 6-0 lead on the Eagles. However, Washington decided to create some very tense moments for Miners fans as the Eagles plated 4 in the 8th inning and then quickly added one more in the top of the ninth with just one out. A throwing error by catcher George Cleaves on a Jim Hanshaw stolen base attempt allowed the Washington outfielder, who represented the tying run, to move to third base with just one away but Pittsburgh starter Charlie Stedman, who went the distance, settled down and induced a pop out and a ground out to end the season and with it Detroit's hopes for a 1-game playoff to become necessary. Detroit could have had the playoff game, which would have been the second in team history, had they not stumbled in Chicago earlier in the week. The Dynamos dropped a pair of 1-run games to the Chiefs which left them 2 back of Pittsburgh entering the final weekend series. Rookie Sam Vaughan was outstanding for Chicago in a 3-2 victory that required 11 innings in the series opener and Tom Bird's 7th inning rbi single was the difference in a 4-3 Chicago win the next day. One can't help but wonder how different Detroit's fortunes might have been had Sal Pestilli been healthy and available for those two games. Pestilli, who has been slowed by a sore shoulder for over a month, did get a clean bill of health heading into the final weekend against the Gothams but even a Detroit sweep was not quite enough to catch the Miners and for the second year in a row the Dynamos win over 90 games but have to settle for second place. STARS CLAIM PENNANT TO CAP OFF MIRACLE SEASON The New York Stars won 5 of their final 6 games to end the season while the Cleveland Foresters collapsed, dropping their last four and six of their final seven games, capping a surprsing season that saw the Stars rise to the top of the Continental Association after finishing a distant 6th a year ago. Many are still wondering how the Stars did it. They were only third in run differential and well behind the Chicago Cougars, who ended the season in third place, and the second place Foresters. New York was 5th in the CA in both runs scored and runs against. There defense wasn't very good. They were 5th in batting average and just 4th in on base percentage yet at the end of the year there they were - atop the Continental Association with an 87-67 record, a 16 game improvement on last season and two games better than the Foresters. Perhaps their 26-12 record in 1-run games and 9-3 in extra innings was what tilted the balance in their favour. Cleveland clearly shot itself in the foot or maybe more succinctly suffered a fractured foot...the one belonging to shortstop George Dawson with a week and a half remaining in the season. The morning before the game in which Dawson went down the Foresters had a 4.5 game lead on the second place Stars but it disappeared quickly. New York walked into Forester Stadium and spanked the hometown boys three straight games to cut the deficit to just 1.5 games. Cleveland recovered by taking 3 out of 4 from Philadelphia last weekend but the Stars did the same against Brooklyn. On Monday, an off-day for the Foresters the Stars dropped to 2 games back when Art White tossed a 3-hit shutout to give Brooklyn a 1-0 win over the Stars and perhaps a small measure of revenge for the times in recent years the Stars had spoiled the Kings pennant hopes. As it turned out the Stars pennant celebration was not derailed at all. New York would win 4 straight at home, two each over Baltimore and Montreal while Cleveland collapsed dropping 2 of 3 to Toronto and then the opener of their 3 game season ending series in Philadelphia which meant the New York Stars were now up 1 game with 2 remaining in the season. The Cleveland collapse continued on Saturday as Rube McCormick, who had pitched a whale of game up to that point, issued a walk-off bases loaded walk to Wilbur Hodges in the bottom of the ninth to hand the Philadelphia Sailors a 3-2 victory. At the same time the Stars were blasting Brooklyn 10-2 at Kings County and clinching their first pennant since 1932 but 9th in team history equaling the Chicago Cougars for the most all-time. You could blame the Cleveland collapse on the absence of Dawson as his replacement Don Sprague went 2-for-20 the final week but it really was much more than that. It was almost like the Foresters were not meant to win and this season, and the story it will write, belonged to the New York Stars. A team with a first year General Manager, who came from Cleveland of all places, to lead his charges out of the depths of several awful seasons back to the pinnacle of success. Everyone kept waiting for the Stars to fade. 'They just weren't good enough to sustain this' they cried. 'Their luck has to run out,' they decreed. Well, it hasn't yet and who knows maybe they have enough luck remaining in their magical season to pull out 4 more victories despite being huge underdogs to beat the Pittsburgh Miners. MINERS HEAVY FAVOURITES TO WIN SERIES BUT STARS WOULDN'T WANT IT ANY OTHER WAY The Pittsburgh Miners do not have the greatest track record in World Championship Series play. In fact, it is downright awful as they are 1-7 all-time in series against the Continental Association champ. It traces back to 1898 when they won the Fed crown four straight years but lost the first 3 WCS they appeared in - falling to Toronto that first season and the Chicago Cougars the next two before finally sweeping the Cleveland Foresters in 1901 for their first, and so far only, WCS title. They were back in 1907 but lost to Baltimore in 6 games that year as the Clippers (The Cannons were known as the Clippers back then) won their first of back to back titles. It would be 1924 before the Miners got back to the Series and their opponent, like it will be this season, was the New York Stars. The Stars were a budding dynasty at the time and beat Pittsburgh easily in 5 games to win the first of what would be three consecutive WCS titles for New York. Pittsburgh fans then had to wait patiently until 1937 - two years ago when the Miners won the opener of their series with Brooklyn and seemed to be coasting to a game two victory before the wheels fell off and the Kings prevailed in 5 games. So here we are again as Pittsburgh prepares once more to try and win it's second World Championship Series. The New York Stars are clear underdogs this season against the heavily favoured Miners but the Stars not only have a dream-like season on the go, they also have history on their side. New York has now won 9 pennants, tied with the Chicago Cougars for the most all-time, and they also have great success in the post-season. The Stars own 7 WCS titles from their previous 8 appearances with the lone lose coming in 1903 to Boston, a year after New York had beaten the Minutemen for their first title. They would top the Minutemen again in both 1906 and 1907 and then win three straight starting in 1924, when they beat Pittsburgh. Washington would be the Stars 1925 victim with the New York Gothams succumbing in 1926. The most recent win for the Stars came in 1932 when they downed the Philadelphia Keystones in 4 straight games. All time in Series games the Stars have a 28-14 record. Pittsburgh is 10-20. But none of that matters to any of the players on the field or it seems to most members of the media who all in unison declare Pittsburgh to be the certain winner of the series. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES PREDICTIONS Here is a sampling from some of the papers around the league: Jiggs McGee: This Week in Figment Baseball: MINERS IN 5 Everything in my head tells me the Miners should win this thing easily. Their offense is dominant, especially against righthanders and that's really all New York can throw against them. Yes the Stars have Dave Trowbridge (.351,18,113) playing like he is ten years younger and Moxie Pidgeon (.296,21,99) who delivered another Moxie-like season. Maybe Bill Barrett (.289,14,66) will have his coming out party on the big stage of the Series. But even if all 3 have huge series how do you compete with the Miners group of George Cleaves (.344,18,126), Joe Owens (.339,11,57), Mahlon Strong (.339,19,106), Lew Seals (.260,18,92), Pablo Reyes (.307,6,93) and Les Tucker (.265,8,71). And that is without Jack Cleaves who will miss the Series with an injury. Then New York has to deal with Lefty Allen (24-8), Karl Johnson (23-10) and hard-luck Charlie Stedman (13-20) who is much better than his record indicates. This should be a rout but then my gut tells me the Stars are a team of destiny. They had no business winning the CA pennant and they clearly have no business winning the World Championship Series, but I would not be completely surprised if they somehow did. Yet, if I have to put my hard earned greenbacks on the line I would still have to say Pittsburgh in five. PITTSBURGH PRESS: MINERS IN SIX The Stars may be a team of destiny but you have to like our Miners chances especially with all the righties on the New York pitching staff. NEW YORK MIRROR: MINERS IN SIX Lefty Allen and Charlie Stedman are going to kill the Stars. Even looking at the 'worst' player in the Miners starting lineup has New York pitchers sweating. How did they not win 110 games this season with that team? Pittsburgh is at least twice as talented as NY. My guess is all the Miners have to do is hit the ball to the left side of the field and we'll be helpless as Cochran and Moxy cant catch a cold. Kind of eye opening going through the players but hopefully the Stars can step up and play like fire. Or maybe Otto Schmidt, the first year Stats manager knows some secrets about his old club. Schmidt was the Miners bench coach the previous two seasons including 1937 when they reached the Series but lost to Brooklyn. FREDDIE FARHAT: Detroit World : MINERS IN FIVE I've always felt whoever came out of the rough and tumble Fed would dominate the Series. No reason to change now so I am going with Miners in 5 and would not be shocked at a sweep. It just feels like the Miners, who had overall very good health this season are on a mission with some of their veteran players. They just missed a couple of years ago, now’s the time. PERCY SUTHERLAND : Chicago Herald-Examiner: MINERS IN FIVE RUFUS BARRELL: Retired Director of OSA: MINERS IN FIVE Miners should win this. But you know the saying about anything being possible.... Still, if I were betting, I'd say Miners in 5, maybe 6. WILLIAM 'DOC' SHAW Boston Globe: MINERS IN SIX Ol’ Doc was looking at the series matchup this morning and feels that it is a bit premature to be sending the trophy to Pittsburgh just yet. According to my numbers many people are discounting what the Stars can do that the Miners cannot. The Stars are .532 on the road this season, .750 in extra inning ball games, .684 in one-run games and .550 against left handed pitchers. All of these numbers are much better than what Pittsburgh has to offer. Unfortunately for the Stars however, is that the Miners murder right handed pitching and the Stars rotation is loaded with right handed arms. In Ol’ Doc’s opinion that will be the difference as he predicts that the series will be won by the Miners in six games but expects the games to be tightly contested. WASHINGTON TIMES HERALD : STARS IN SEVEN BASEBALL NEWS NETWORK: MINERS WIN SERIES BIG BNN simulated a 1000 game series using a dice and board game and it was a resounding victory for the Miners by a 609-392 score. It expects Dave Trowbridge to have a good Series for NY and Mahlon Strong & George Cleaves to lead the Miners. No real surprises there, I guess. Old Man Trowbridge still has it apparently. As a side not imagine the time needed to sim out 1000 games with dice. Maybe one day a device can be invented to automatically do it quickly. OSA PRESIDENT RUFUS BARRELL RETIRES Rufus Barrell, the legendary scouting "guru" who co-founded and has headed up the Omni Scouting Association for over 25 years, has announced his retirement. "Time for this old bird dog to hang up his binoculars and go home to the farm," Barrell told assembled reporters at the OSA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Rufus Barrell was born in the small town of Egypt, Georgia on June 11, 1873. From an early age he was a devout disciple of baseball and by his teenage years had become a fearsome pitcher in northeastern Georgia. Packing up a cardboard suitcase with his meager belongings, Barrell left the family farm at the age of 16 to try his hand as a professional ballplayer. He spent two seasons with Savannah in the independent leagues, one of which was outstanding, before being signed by the Brooklyn Kings in 1891. A hard-hit line drive off the bat of the Gothams' George Blankenship in a late March exhibition before what would have been Barrell's rookie season in 1892 fractured the pitcher's skull and ended his career before it truly began. It was then that Kings' owner Malcolm Presley performed an act of kindness that ended up shaping the future of FABL scouting when he hired the former pitcher as a scout for the Kings. Barrell spent a decade beating the bushes for Brooklyn and his humble, friendly nature and keen eye made him both a popular fellow with virtually everyone in baseball as well as one of the sport's best scouts. Eventually Barrell was approached by Thomas Potentas, the Polish emigre who had a vision for a centralized scouting bureau to serve all of FABL. OSA was born, and Barrell has guided it through its first 25-plus years. Barrell is also the father of several current FABL players (Fred, Harry and Tom Barrell of the Kings and Bobby Barrell of the Keystones) as well as former King Dan Barrell, and former minor leaguer (and professional hockey star) Jack Barrell and the grandfather of young Cannons pitcher Deuce Barrell (whose legal name is Rufus Barrell II). Barrell also announced that his son, the aforementioned former King first baseman Dan Barrell, will replace him as President of the OSA, managing the scouting side while Thomas Potentas retains his role as the business head of the bureau. FABL PRESIDENT WEIGHS IN ON POTENTIAL CANNON MOVE AP- FABL President Sam Benton, on hand to make remarks about the retirement of OSA President Rufus Barrell was asked by famed sports columnist Jiggs McGee about the rumored sale of the Baltimore Cannons. "There has been no paperwork submitted by any party concerning the sale of the Cannons, or any other FABL club, for that matter," Benton said. McGee pressed him on the topic and Benton said he was "well aware of the rumors" but added that "at this time, Oscar Banner remains the owner and there has been no move made that indicates any imminent change in that regard." McGee's next question was phrased as a hypothetical, asking if a buyer in Cincinnati, Milwaukee or Buffalo were to come along, would the move be approved. Benton frowned, and said that while he doesn't "deal in hypotheticals," any proposed purchase that would include a move of a FABL club, would "according to our bylaws, require approval from the league office." "And that would mean you, right?" McGee asked. "Yes, that would mean me," Benton admitted. Forestalling the inevitable follow-up question, Benton explained that he "would look at the situation and evaluate it. None of the... hypothetical locations mentioned has a suitable ballpark, so something would need to be done about that. I would also talk with the owners of the other Continental Association clubs to get their opinions. But in the end the decision would be mine. And at this time, I can not in good faith give a definitive answer on something that may or may not happen." Noting that the press conference was supposed to be about "Rufus Barrell's long and esteemed career," Benton asked that no more questions be raised regarding the Cannons. MCCORMICK COMES OH SO CLOSE One hit. One lousy hit. That is all that prevented Toronto's Fred McCormick from finishing the season with a .400 batting average. The first baseman, who celebrated his 30th birthday last week with a 5-for-5 day against the Cleveland Foresters finished the season with 227 hits in 569 at bats for a batting average of .39895. One more at bat with a hit and he would have been at exactly .400 joining Mel Carrol as the only players to hit .400 this decade. Instead the honour is Carrol's alone after McCormick, who entered the final game of the season with a .400 average, went 1-for-4 against Jim Lonardo and the Chicago Cougars on Sunday. Don't feel bad for him as McCormick still claimed the triple crown, leading the Continental Association in batting average (.399), homeruns (29) and rbi's (123) and seems a lock to win his second consecutive Whitney Award. Only Al Wheeler, in 1935, won a CA triple crown prior to McCormick this season. The Federal Association batting title went to Pittsburgh catcher George Cleaves (.344,18,126), who edged out teammates Joe Owens (.339,11,57) and Mahlon Strong (.339,19,106) for the top spot. A LOOK BACK AT THE 1929 DRAFT It is time for our annual look back at how the draft from a decade ago played out as we make a stop in 1929. 1929 was the year the Detroit Dynamos won their first World Championship Series title in a decade after beating the Philadelphia Sailors in a series that went the full seven games. It was also a big year for college pitchers with most of the talk centered around Tom Barrell and Chick Stout although Chicago Poly's Tom Blalock made his presence felt as well. Stout, who went 11-1 for Rainier College that season, actually beat out Georgia Baptist's Barrell (11-2) for first team All-American honours that season but the Frank Christian Trophy went to Commonwealth Catholic outfielder Vic Crawford. Here were the 1939 AIAA All-Americans Code:
FIRST ROUND PICKS Prior to the 1929 draft the class was summed up this way by TWIFB's Jiggs McGee. "The draft class looks very strong at the top with plenty of pitching and power hitting outfielders available." Jiggs had this as his projected first round following the completion of the 1929 amateur seasons. Code:
Here is the projected first round from TWIFB1- CHICAGO COUGARS: TOM BARRELL P Georgia Baptist While around the league there may have been a lot of debate between Barrell and Chick Stout, looking at the archives of the Chicago Daily News there appeared to have been no uncertainty at all in the Cougars camp, which quotes a club source as saying it was an easy choice."We went with what we felt was the obvious choice in P/1B Tom Barrell out of Georgia Baptist," the Cougars statement read. "Somewhat of a legend in the Figment realm, the younger brother of current Cougar C Fred Barrell was a rare four year college player who holds numerous records for counting stats both at Georgia Baptist and in the entire AIAA. On the mound, he finished 34-8 with a 2.54 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 489 strikeouts in 425 innings. He also owned a solid batting line (especially his senior season) and is a potential two-way superstar." As it turned out Barrell certainly did become a star although not in Chicago. The Cougars dealt him three years later, just after his big league debut in a blockbuster trade with Brooklyn. Barrell is now 31 and has a 127-65 career record to go with 3 Allen Awards, a World Championship and helped the Kings win 3 pennants. Hard to argue against him being the best player to come out of the 1929 draft class. 2- PITTSBURGH MINERS: CHICK STOUT P Rainier College You can't fault the Miners for trading up in order to select Stout as most had him high on their lists although at the time there were some concerns about his intangibles. Still, he outpitched Barrell in his draft year and even TWIFB toyed with the notion of ranking Stout ahead of Tom Barrell on draft day. Stout is still in Pittsburgh a decade and has carved out a decent career as a relief pitcher but it is certainly not the player the Miners were hoping they would have received with this pick.3- MONTREAL SAINTS: VIC CRAWFORD OF-1B Commonwealth Catholic Crawford was everything you could want in a first round pick. A first team All-American 3 straight years, 67 career college homers (2nd most all-time) and would later be named #2 on the AIAA Feeder League All-Time Team. (Tom Barrell was 6th and Chick Stout 14th by the way). The Saints had their eyes on him all along but were slotted 9th in the draft. It took some work and a number of deals were made as teams jockeyed to land one of the two big pitchers but eventually the Saints found a trade partner to get the third pick which they immediately used on Crawford. Saints GM Francis Asberry was quoted at the time as saying he was confident the squad could get a good hitter had they stayed at the #9 pick but "with all the clamor around Barrell and Stout, there was another player who I felt could have easily been the first or second pick--outfielder Vic Crawford from Commonwealth College. Crawford is simply an elite hitter." In 153 career games for Commonwealth, Crawford hit .366 with 53 doubles, 67 home runs, and 187 runs batted in.So the Saints got there man and even though Asberry is long gone from Montreal, Crawford is still there and still an elite hitter. Through 9 seasons the 31 year old has led the CA in doubles 5 times and has played over 1100 big league games for Montreal. 4- ST LOUIS PIONEERS: TOM BLALOCK P Chicago Poly Tom Blalock had a great college career. In fact he was listed as #22 on the All-Time Feeder League AIAA team. The problem for the St Louis Pioneers was that he peaked in college and never made the major leagues. He is now in the Chicago Cougars system, playing A ball with little hope of ever getting to the majors. It was clearly a case of a team reaching for a pitcher when they should have taken a position player and there were several good ones that went just after Blalock but in their defense St Louis was not the only ones who erred badly on their assessment of Blalock. Jiggs McGee had this to say about him in the draft preview that year. "Overshadowed by Stout and Barrell but whoever picks him will be getting a great prospect." And who knows had St Louis taken a position player it likely would have been one of the second baseman (Sam Orr or Jake Shadoan) which means they may not have drafted Freddie Jones second overall two years later.5- TORONTO WOLVES: SAM ORR 2B Henry Hudson University Orr and Jake Shadoan of Liberty College were the two big middle infielders available at the top of the draft. Each would go on to have a pretty solid career but Orr's proved to be perhaps just a little bit better. He spent a decade in Toronto, hitting .276 in 1116 career games with the Wolves before being released just a couple of months ago. The Chicago Cougars picked him up so the 31 year old is still in the big leagues, but has not played much in Chicago.6- BOSTON MINUTEMEN: DAN FOWLER OF Commonwealth Catholic It is a mild surprise that Commonwealth Catholic, with both Vic Crawford and Dan Fowler at the heart of their lineup, did not reach the AIAA World Series in 1929. They did when Crawford and Fowler were freshman but in 1928 and 1929 they were overshadowed by Liberty College, led by Jake Shadoan. Between them the Knights duo combined for 51 homers and 140 rbi's in 50 games their draft year and were arguably the most feared power hitting duo in AIAA history. Surprisingly Fowler was overlooked for the All-American team but did finish 12th on the AIAA top 25 all-time players list.Boston fans were delighted to see the Minutemen grab the local college star but his stay in New England was brief. After making the Boston roster in 1932 he was dealt to Cleveland at the trade deadline the following season. He would go on to win a World Championship Series with the Foresters and remains a key piece as they attempt to claim another pennant this year. Fowler recently hit his 200th career FABL homerun, making him just the 18th player to reach that milestone. 7- BROOKLYN KINGS: JAKE SHADOAN 2B Liberty College The Kings were thrilled to land Shadoan at pick 7. Former Brooklyn scouting director Rube Carter, now with the Chicago Chiefs, had his top five on the draft board as follows: 1- Tom Barrell, 2- Vic Crawford, 3- Tom Blalock, 4-Sam Orr, 5-Jake Shadoan. Shadoan led Liberty College to the AIAA World Series finals twice but his club came up short both times. Shadoan was another member of the All-Time AIAA team, ranking #16 on that list led primarily by a draft year that was one of the best seasons on all-time as he hit .473 with a .532 on base percentage but lost the Northeast Conference batting title by .001 to Rip Curry.A very talented hitter Shadoan won a CA batting crown in 1933 and for a 4 year stretch was one of the best hitters in the game. He stumbled in 1935 as a 27 year old and lost his starting job the following season. By 1937 Brooklyn had traded him to Detroit and he never took advantage of his opportunity there either prompting the Dynamos to release him earlier this year. Brooklyn picked him up and assigned him to a minor league affiliate with the plan of one day seeing him become a hitting coach in the organization. He is just 31 so may still get back to the big leagues someday, although it is unlikely. If not Shadoan finishes with 1223 career hits and a .328 lifetime batting average in 1051 big league games. 8- CLEVELAND FORESTERS: AMOS LEBLANC OF George Fox University A number of trades were made in the moments leading up to the draft, one of which saw the Cleveland Foresters trade down from 3 to the 8th selection. Vic Crawford went third to Montreal while the Foresters targeted another Academia Alliance conference outfielder in Amos LeBlanc. LeBlanc was a second team All-American that season with a breakout draft year after a pair of ordinary seasons prior to that. It turned out the draft year was an anomaly and LeBlanc never amounted to much. He played just 29 career games for the Foresters and 20 more with the Chicago Cougars, finishing with a .200 batting average for his all too brief career. Now 31, he is still active but playing for Independent Sacramento of the Great Western League.The Foresters clearly had bad luck with drafting outfielders in this era. Karl Stevens - the worst number one pick of all-time- has often been discussed but after taking Stevens in 1926 Cleveland followed with Dick Kennon 9th overall in 1927 and Leo Clark 12th overall in 1928 before the choice of LeBlanc in '29. All four were college outfielders and all four were busts. To make matters worse the Foresters had another first round pick in 1929 and while they did not select an outfielder with it, they did manage to land another bust. 9- NEW YORK GOTHAMS: PHIL NEWCOM P Central Ohio University Newcom was 7th amongst pitchers on Jiggs McGee's mock draft that year so teams were certainly looking at him after a solid draft year at Central Ohio. He was clearly considered a step below the big three of Barrell, Stout and Blalock but still considered a solid prospect. The Gothams had made a few moves that draft including dealing down from 3rd to 9th in the first round after a swap with Montreal that netted Al Allen Jr. for the New Yorkers. In hindsight they would have been much happier to have not made that deal and used the pick on Crawford but in all liklihood had they not traded down they would have probably went with Blalock so in that regard adding Allen was a step forward.Newcom looked pretty solid his first minor league season but just never seemed to progress. He would pitch in just 7 games for the Gothams before being moved in a deal with Washington that sent several players who never amounted to anything back and forth but in the transaction the Gothams did get a 1934 third round pick that turned out to be Earl West, who is still just 23 and has played a handful of games in the New York outfield. As for Newcom he did pitch regularly for a couple of seasons on some pretty bad Eagles teams, posting a 14-21 mark with a 5.97 era in Washington but is presently looking for work after Washington released him earlier this season. 10- WASHINGTON EAGLES: BILL KIRBY OF-1B St Louis High School By now I am sure you were wondering where all of the high school picks were. It really was a banner year for the AIAA, maybe the greatest collection of college talent in feeder league history. Bill Kirby broke that streak of college players as the Eagles grabbed the teen despite the fact he played just 48 career high school games and hit only 2 home runs. To say he was a reach is an understatement. Prior to the 1929 draft Jiggs McGee profiled the top outfielders eligible for selection and Kirby was ranked 13th among them. Scout Rube Carter thought much less of Kirby and did not have him in his list of top 100 players.Washington must have thought they saw something in the then 17 year old but as it turned out they were wrong, of course letting him start just 33 games in his first two years of pro ball did little to help Kirby's development. He never advanced past AA and was eventually released. Kirby is still in baseball, and having a decent season with Tulsa of the Class A independent Lone Star Association. Picks like Kirby are the type that cost GM's and SD's jobs and Washington has been through more than their share of both over the years. 11- BALTIMORE CANNONS: RAY BARNES 2B Boulder State Ah, the good old days when the Cannons were an average team and did not pick in the top two of the draft every year. Barnes was a second baseman back them, but overshadowed by Sam Orr and Jake Shadoan, and as it would turn out by a couple of others as well as Jiggs McGee had Barnes 5th among second baseman on his mock draft. Barnes did have a decent college career with the Grizzlies and eventually became a FABL regular for a couple of seasons on some really bad Baltimore clubs but he is now proudly displaying his skills in the Lone Star Association. His big league career consisted of 343 games over 4 seasons in Baltimore and a .283 lifetime batting average.12- PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES: BOBBY MANY OF Whitney College Bobby Many has probably the worst personality of any first round pick ever selected. His leader ability, loyalty, work ethic and intelligence are all low and his greed is high. His personality blurb basically calls him an A-hole. But he was also a very good baseball player. He was a first team All-American selection in the outfield alongside Vic Crawford and Elmer Nolde that year and smacked 17 homers while batting .410 in 50 games.It took a while but Many is finally an everyday player in Philadelphia, starting the past two and a half seasons although his .242 average with 3 homers this season means it might not last much longer. Overall, Many is hitting .286 with 22 dingers in 409 games and likely still among the most despised players in the league. 13- NEW YORK STARS: NELLIE DAWSON OF Wisconsin State Prior to the draft Jiggs McGee had the top 15 outfielders ranked this way:Code:
1- Vic Crawford Commonwealth Catholic14- CHICAGO CHIEFS: JOE FOY SS Opelika State Was the first shortstop selected in the draft going ahead of George Dawson, who was a second round pick of Cleveland's. Foy had a great college career and won a pair of National Titles with the Wildcats. Prior to the 1929 college season he was the top shortstop on Jiggs' list but George Dawson's tremendous draft season as a senior in High School bumped him ahead of Foy in the final mock draft rankings, although neither made Jiggs' first round. I am sure the Chiefs would have wished they also moved Dawson ahead of Foy, who claims he is still an active player despite not suiting up for anyone since being released by Chicago after spring training a year and a half ago. Foy did play nearly 500 FABL games and hit .315. He was actually pretty good with the bat for a couple of years but the acquisition of Pete Layton likely was what ended Foy's days at Whitney Park.15- PHILADELPHIA SAILORS: LOU WILLIAMS OF Detroit City College Compared to the other outfielders on the list a couple of players up, Lou Williams did not have a great college career. He was decent but certainly overshadowed by a number of others. Despite that the Philadelphia Sailors unearthed a very nice draft pick in deciding to take Williams. Now 31 his future with the Sailors might be as a 4th outfielder but he was an everyday player for half a dozen seasons and a pretty consistent one at that, batting .297 in 931 games while playing above average defense in left field. Williams even made the CA all-star team in 1936.16- CLEVELAND FORESTERS: BEN BERNARD P Mobile High School Five pitchers went in the first round with two of them (Blalock and Bernard) never making it to the big leagues. Entering his draft year Bernard had a lot of hype as the top high school arm available. In his early draft preview before the 1929 season began Jiggs McGee had Bernard second among all players behind only Tom Barrell. As the draft approach Jiggs tempered his enthusiasm somewhat even though Bernard was a High School playoff MVP that June, but still ranked the righthander 5th on the final mock draft. Jiggs did offer these words of caution: "Stands a good chance of going third overall but being a high school arm may come with a little more risk than Stout or Barrell."As it turned out caution would have been wise. Bernard missed 6 weeks his rookie pro year and several months a couple of seasons later with injuries. Whether that was a factor or not, or whether Bernard was simply not that good to begin with we will never know but the bottom line is he never advanced past AA. Now 28 he has split this season between Class A and B in the Foresters system and clearly will never be a big league pitcher. A thought on the Foresters of this era. How did they ever build a team that won back to back pennants in 1934 and 1935 and a World Championship Series with first round picks like Bernard and and Amos LeBlanc this draft and others that were previously mentioned in the recap of LeBlanc's career? Good thing the Foresters were savy traders and in their defense they did have some solid later round picks like George Dawson in round two of this draft. SUMMARY The top half of the 1929 draft was outstanding and when you add in later selections like George Dawson (rd 2 Cleveland), Gail Gifford (rd 2 St Louis), Nick Wallace (rd 3 Brooklyn), Mel Carrol (rd 4 Washington), Joe Owens (rd 2 Pittsburgh) and Chick Donnelly (rd 11 Boston) there was a lot of offensive talent. Surprisingly despite all the hype about the elite pitchers only Tom Barrell has had what one would consider a successful big league career. Sure Chick Stout has had some longevity in Pittsburgh and George Phillips (12th rd Stars) is having a big year but overall the crop of pitchers is incredibly thin this draft. THE WINTER HUNT FOR PITCHING BEGINS As the season ends a number of teams are already active in trying to upgrade for next year and as usual the number one need on the winter shopping list is pitching. Everyone wants a good established pitcher and even untested prospects are commanding a kings ransom. Dan Barrell, son of Rufus and new head of the OSA, points out there are plenty of talented arms in the minors, guys just waiting for a shot. He knows a thing or two about that as he spent an awful long time in the bushes before finally get a shot in Brooklyn. To illustrate his point Barrell gave the following hypothetical example at a round-table of media types and scouts. [quote] Let me give you guys an example. Two pitchers have the following projected numbers: Pitcher A: .243 OVAG, 2.63 ERA, 3.23 FIP and 5.7 WAR Pitcher B: .247 OVAG, 2.64 ERA, 3.05 FIP and 6.4 WAR One of them is a perennial Allen contender and the other has been traded three times, has never had a winning record at the FABL level and spends a lot of time in AAA. But which is which? My point is that one guy would net a prince's ransom and the other guy has already been traded three times (and not in any blockbusters by any means) and probably could be had right now. It's all perception based on usage and the team around & behind the pitcher. The misconception is that there is a shortage of pitching. There is not. So guys who have had the luck of having good teams behind them (or get lucky rolls in RNG inside OOTP) get overvalued when a much cheaper replacement is sitting there - but he's a hidden gem. This is why I try to encourage people to TRY some of these AAA guys. Too many good players are festering in the minors while everyone is slavishly trying to trade for "established" pitching. [quote] That prompted one eager young bird dog to respond his club has tried that and failed time and again: "It isn't like I haven't tried to find the hidden gems languishing in the minors. I was able to work out a deal with the Cougars for Joe Foote a few years back. He had put up nice numbers in AA that year and wasn't bad in a limited AAA stop either. Cougs weren't asking a ransom so it was an easy deal to make. Foote has been brutal for me. I bring him up every spring training and he gets shelled and his AAA stats are abysmal in 2 years for me. So it probably won't work. Which I'm not upset about as I was happy to be able to make a small deal like this. However, my point is that deals like this are hard to make. When you ask about a guy in AAA or AA that isn't a ranked prospect all of a sudden it seems that GM is treating him like their favorite player and want a lot for them. Well if they were so great why are they not even in AAA or your FABL bullpen for that matter? I'm not crying about anything here just pointing out that it is still tough to make even minor deals at times. I even tried a few guys back up AAA 2B's last season and guys are coming back with high draft pick returns. You aren't even using the guy but you want a high pick for him. I just laugh and move on." A Stars scout added that "Pitchers that are great are hard to come by. Even if a guy is rated the same behind the curtain, you'll trade 3 of them for 1 known performer any day. The 3 guys never get a shot for various reasons; they had a down year, they're struggling to get started, they're just 'ok'." "And I think that's part of the charm," he continued. "How many highly rated prospects have flamed out because they struggled or just never got a chance to play full time? But now saying that makes me think we're part of the problem. We all want guys to perform and perform now. A couple down years or struggles will get you cut or traded regardless of what is under the hood. There are success stories of 'late bloomers'. How many of those guys are out there and never got to blossom because they never got a shot? But again, we want guys that hit and pitch now. Late bloomers seems like accidents." The joys of stats-only make this league so much more interesting, and unpredictable for sure. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/09/1939
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1939 WCS Games 1 & 2
OCTOBER 13, 1939 STARS SHINE IN PITTSBURGH. NEW YORK UP 2-0 IN SERIES Maybe the New York Stars really are a team of destiny. The improbable run that has been the entire season for the Stars just added two more unlikely chapters with a pair of shocking victories on the road over the mighty Pittsburgh Miners to open the World Championship Series. So much has already been said about the Stars surprising ascent to the top of the Continental Association, as they defied the pundits and seemingly the laws of baseball all along the way. As a result it really should come as no shock that the Stars, always the underdog this season it seems, simply went into Pittsburgh and stared down a Miners team that played .701 baseball at Fitzpatrick Park this season, then proceed to destroy the Miners and their so-called superior pitching staff in back to back games. Ageless wonder Dave Trowbridge and teen phenom Bill Barrett -who is less than half Trowbridge's age- combined to go 11-for-17 with 8 RBI's and 7 runs scored in the two games making for a short day for both Lefty Allen and Hard Luck Chuck Stedman. Meanwhile, the Stars pitching did just enough to keep the Pittsburgh offense, which has been murder on righthanders all season, from taking the game back. Yes the Miners did manage to get 10 runs in the two contests but Stars starters Bill Riley and George Phillips certainly did enough to keep the New York dream machine rolling. The boxscores (shown below)from the opening two games were almost carbon copies of each other. New York put up a pair of runs in the top of the first inning in both games only to see Pittsburgh quickly tie it. In both instances the Stars would respond, padding their leads with 2 more runs before eventually adding some insurance which allowed them to withstand late rally attempts from the Miners. The last time Pittsburgh lost back to back games at home was August 19th and 20th to the Philadelphia Keystones and that was one of just three times all season they were beaten in consecutive games at Fitzpatrick Park but here it happened again on the biggest stage possible. The Series now shifts to New York where the Stars hope to pen the final two chapters of this fantasy season. Is it perhaps time for everyone to stop doubting their ability to do it? STARS BUSY OFF THE FIELD TOO The New York Stars are still involved in the 1939 season but word is they have already agreed to a move for next year. A handshake deal is already agreed upon for a 3-player trade sending St Louis pitcher Dixie Lee to the Continental Association champs in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers in Ira Armstrong and Carl Page. The Pioneers had been shopping the disgruntled 26 year old pitcher who was once the darling of OSA as a top ten prospect but has fallen out of favour with St Louis skipper George Sparkman after an erratic 3-11 season that cost the former 15 game winner his spot in the rotation and exiled him to the bullpen. Armstrong, a 20 year old second baseman, and Page, a 19 year old centerfielder, were both considered top 100 prospects with Armstrong believed to have the higher ceiling of the two. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/13/1939
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1939 World Championship Series
OCTOBER 16, 1939 STARSTRUCK! NEW YORK BATS BURY MINERS IN SERIES SWEEP The New York Stars completed an almost unbelievable season in equally astounding fashion by sweeping the heavily favoured Pittsburgh Miners in four games to win the World Championship Series. It completes a dramatic turnaround for a club that looked to have completely lost it's way when it cleaned house and fired much of it's front-office last August. Only a late charge under an interim GM and the fact that the laughable Baltimore Cannons are also in the Continental Association prevented the Stars from being the worst team in the CA just 12 short months ago. Now, they are the best team in baseball as they made it look easy against the supposedly mighty Pittsburgh Miners. New York bats, led by both the oldest player in the league in 41 year old Dave Trowbridge and the youngest in 19 year old Bill Barrett, made the powerful Pittsburgh pitching staff look like a bunch of high school kids in hitting .373 as a team against the Miners and outscoring the vaunted Pittsburgh offense 31-16. Entering the series few gave the Stars a chance at all. The key phrase in reference to the Stars series chances was "How could they?" As in how could the Stars pitching staff, slanting heavily to righthanders, handle the Miners incredible offense and it's collection of lefthanded hitters? Or how could the Stars possibly find success against the dominant Pittsburgh rotation of Lefty Allen, Charlie Stedman and Karl Johnson? Finally, just how could the Stars hope to fare well at Fitzpatrick Park, where the hometown Miners were a FABL best 54-23? New York gave a resounding answer of "That's how!" to each of those questions The Stars went 2-0 at Fitzpatrick Park to open the series and easily handled the Pittsburgh lineup with the lone exception of Mahlon Strong, who had a terrific series for the Miners. And as for Lefty Allen, things could not have go better for the Stars or worse for the 25 year old southpaw. Allen got rocked twice and finished the series with a 8.53 era which, as it turned out would end up being a full run better than Charlie Stedman's line from his only start. Karl Johnson pitched a solid game three but it was not good enough as the New York bats wore him down and pulled out a comeback win. Everything all the so-called experts in the media said about the limitations of the Stars, both during the season and in the WCS, were disproved by a New York team that just seemed destined to win it all. At 41 years of age veteran New York first baseman Dave Trowbridge, who began his career in Pittsburgh but has been Star through some great seasons (WCS wins in 1932 and again this year) and some very lean years (pretty well everything in between those Series wins) but he had clearly the greatest regular season ever posted by a player over the age of 40 (.351,18,113) followed by an outstanding World Championship Series (9-for-15 with a double, a homerun, 2 rbi's, 4 walks and 5 runs scored). Perhaps it should have been expected as Trowbridge entered this Series 10-for-18 all-time in post-season play. His .576 career series batting average falls two shy of the minimum 40 plate appearances otherwise it would be considered the highest career World Series total of all-time. In 1932 Dave Trowbridge had 9 rbi's as the Stars swept the Philadelphia Keystones to win the Series that year. Only two players in FABL history have driven in at least 9 runs in a Series that only went 4 games. The second one was Bill Barrett, who equaled Trowbridge's total with 9 this series and perhaps that is a perfect link between the two stars, separated in age by nearly 22 years, but linked in their contribution to the most surprising World Championship victory in Stars history. And they have a lot of them....8 in all counting this victory which is the most in FABL history. The Miners also lead FABL in a WCS category, but it is defeats as Pittsburgh has been to 8 of them but this year marks the 7th time in those 8 Series appearances that the Miners have come up short, and they are now riding an 8 game losing streak in WCS play with this sweep combined with dropping the last 4 games of the 1937 series to Brooklyn after winning the opener that year. Barrett with his 9 rbi's was named the Series Most Valuable Player. The 19 year old phenom who was playing high school ball just over a year ago, hit .500 (9-for-18) with 4 extra base hits including a homerun to go with those 9 rbi's. HOW IMPRESSIVE WAS STARS TURNAROUND? The New York Stars become just the third team in FABL history to win a World Championship Series title after finishing as low as 6th place the previous season. The Stars were just 71-83 and finished 6th in the Continental Association a full 19 games back of front-running Brooklyn a year ago. The 1922 Chicago Cougars also won the Series after a 6th place finish the previous season but in truth the 1921 Cougars were not a bad team as they actually finished a game over .500 in an incredibly balanced CA that season. That leaves the 1907 Baltimore Clippers (now Cannons) as the only club to stage a more impressive single season turnaround to claim a WCS title. The 1906 Clippers won just 70 games and ended up 25 back of the pennant winning New York Stars. However, a year later the Clippers jumped to 102 wins and completely dominated the CA before beating Pittsburgh in 6 to win the first of two straight World Titles. That Clippers turnaround was keyed by the arrival of a pair of 19 year old's in future Hall of Famer Mike Marner, who would post an astounding 34-12 record with a 0.74 era as a rookie, and Jimmy Redpath, a one year wonder who would win 25 games that season as a teenager but never pitch again. That club also had a breakout season from another future Hall of Famer as Powell Slocum, at age 20 and in his third FABL season, won the first of what would be 15 Continental Association batting titles. Code:
TEAMS TO FINISH 6TH OR WORSE THE YEAR PRIOR TO WINNING WCSThe Week That Was Current events from the weekend of 10/13 - 10/16/1939
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1939 Off-season
OCTOBER 23, 1939 COVER STORY JUST HOW LIKELY ARE THOSE TOP-25 PITCHERS TO PAN OUT Most are anticipating another busy off-season of trade news so the TWIFB cover story this week takes a look at the value of top young pitching prospects. Most FABL General Managers hold on to top twenty five prospects like they are glued to their hands, and it is even more so when it comes to pitchers. Time and again GM's are very cautious parting with those future gems, even when doing so might net a player that could propel the team to a title. Maybe that is changing as the New York Stars had no issue selling off a pair of top fifty pitching prospects last winter including one, Johnnie Jones, who was in the top twenty. That deal netted Washington Moxie Pidgeon, Robert Curry and Mel Hancock Jr. - three veterans who helped lead the Stars to a World Championship. Detroit has also recently moved some top pitching prospects for veterans and it nearly resulted in a pennant for the Dynamos. However, for the most part young pitchers seem to remain almost untouchable commodities. But should they be that way? Yes, sometimes your young stud turns out to be a Lefty Allen or Tom Barrell but as you will discover from our deep dive in to pitching prospects that player can just as easily become George Gilliard, Johnny Jacob or Art Keeter. Projecting success for young pitchers is probably the single most difficult part of a Scouting Director or General Manager's job in FABL. Teenage arms are very unpredictable and often college pitchers are not much easier to gauge and then you need to factor in the potential impact that injuries can have and it makes finding the next Double Al or Rabbit Day extremely difficult in the draft. But does it get any easier as those young pitchers start to grow and work their way through the minor league systems? TWIFB decided to take a look at five years worth of pitchers ranked in the top 25 on the annual end of season OSA Top Prospect list to try and determine the answer to just that question. Admittedly it is a small sample but what we found out seems to indicate the chances of a top twenty five prospect having an elite level career are not even 50/50. Between 1930-1934 there were 26 pitchers who appeared on at least one end of season top 25 prospect list. We would like to have looked further back to get more of a full career to work with but that data does not exist so we are forced to settle for 1930-34 which means the guys in those top 25 groups presently range in age from as old as 32 to as young as 25. So yes, things can change but looking at the careers of those 26 young men right now in the minds of the TWIFB staff 13 of them, or a full 50 percent are busts. Now when we say busts we don't mean guys who never made the big leagues - they all did to at least some degree - but when we are looking at a pitcher OSA says is among the top half dozen minor league arms in the game at any given point we expect that pitcher to be at least a solid mid-rotation guy. We found that 4 of the 26 would meet that standard and be considered a decent mid-level big league pitcher which means only 9 of the 26 players OSA raved about during that stretch actually developed, or are developing into what we consider elite pitchers, guys to front a rotation for a number of seasons or at least be a solid number two starter. Here is our breakdown ELITE: David Abalo, Lefty Allen, Tom Barrell, Frank Crawford, Joe Hancock, Dick Higgins, Buddy Long, Al Miller, Jake Smith MID-LEVEL: Chuck Cole, John Edwards, Jack Elder, George Thomas BUSTS:Bill Anderson, Harry Carter, Pinky Conlan, George Gilliard, Johnny Jacob, Curly Jones, Art Keeter, Dixie Lee, Chuck Murphy, Rusty Petrick, Roy Price, Dutch Sheldon, Gene White. Some might disagree with our categorizing of a player or two but our reasoning is explained below. The bottom line is it does not seem those top 25 arms are anywhere close to being guaranteed top half of the rotation guys for an organization down the road. And the numbers could have been worse. If we did not include the 1934 season we would have lost a number of elite players from our list as Joe Hancock, Dick Higgins and Al Miller all emerged from the December 1933 draft, which might just have been the most talented collection of pitchers ever to grace a single draft class. Here are our thoughts on each of the 26 players who comprised the Top 25 Lists between 1930-34 as well as a complete list of all pitchers ranked in the year end Top Twenty-Five by OSA between 1930-1938. ELITE TOP OF THE ROTATION ARMS DAVID ABALO : 1933 #10: Abalo's story is unique. Born in Venezuela, he was originally signed to a contract with Oklahoma City of the Lone Star Association as he never played American high school or college ball. St Louis picked him up in the minor league trade phase in Deceember of 1932 and he was immediately placed on OSA's top prospect list. By 1934 he was in the big leagues as a 20 year old and has been very consistent at the top of the Pioneers rotation ever since, posting an 81-54 record and a sparkling 118 ERA+ oveer the past 6 seasons. LEFTY ALLEN : 1932 #2, 1933 #2: Was also ranked #1 by OSA at the end of the 1935 season. Ignoring the recently completed WCS, Allen has been one of the best pitchers in baseball the past three seasons and is 70-38 over that span. He is 88-51 with a 133 career ERA+ and hard to believe he is still just 25 years old. Clearly a player worth the hype of a top prospect. TOM BARRELL 1930 #19: Perhaps showing signs of slowing now as he approaches his 32nd birthday and has dealt with injuries two of the past three seasons but for a stretch Barrell was the best pitcher in the game, winning 3 consecutive Allan Awards including in 1934 when as a 26 year old he went 29-3 with a .296 ERA. Was just 7-6 last season and missed half the year with shoulder troubles but Barrell is 127-65 with a career 121 ERA+ who led his team to three pennants. FRANK CRAWFORD 1930 #16, 1931 #11: Clearly a pitcher worth the high praise from OSA as Crawford, originally a 10th overall draft pick by the Keystones has evolved into an Allen Award contender in Detroit. He went 25-6 with the lowest ERA in the Fed this season and is 45-16 over two seasons with the Dynamos, reminding us of the impact Rabbit Day had on the Chiefs when he was first acquired. Crawford is 31 years old and boasts a 115-79 career record with a 113 ERA+ and judging by the past couple of seasons the two-time All-Star seems to be just hitting his peak. JOE HANCOCK: 1934 #11, 1935 #4: Taken first overall in the pitching deep 1933 draft that also gave us Dick Higgins, Al Miller, John Edwards, Earle Robinson, Bob Cummings, Nate Spear and Rusty Petrick in the top ten. Hancock had back to back twenty win seasons before slipping to 15-13 this year. Already a two-time all-star, he was second in Allen balloting last year and seems destined to win at least one in his career. Turns 27 next month and is already 72-50 for his career with a 126 ERA+ DICK HIGGINS: 1934 #6, 1935 #5: Second overall pick in the 1933 class that was loaded with high profile pitchers. The former Dickson Maroons star was in Boston as a 22 year old on opening day 1935 and has been outstanding ever since. He was slowed somewhat by a pair of elbow injuries but seems to have recovered unscathed after going 17-16 this season and leading the Fed in games started. This was his lowest ERA+ score at 106 in 1939 but the hopes are that is just a deviation and not a trend. He is 55-47 with a 118 ERA+ and Higgins will be 27 when next season begins. BUDDY LONG: 1934 #25, 1936 #25: As you read further down you will see we were fairly hard in calling some guys busts so partly in order to not be called "the Russian Judge" we are going to give Long, based on his two years in St Louis, the benefit of the doubt and place him in the top of the rotation category right now, but he could drop to just a mid-level arm as the years progress. He has given us no reason to doubt he belongs in this top group with a 14-7, 3.99 rookie season in 1938 followed by an even more impressive 19-13, 3.34 campaign last year. Not bad for a player who was originally drafted out of high school in the 7th round in 1932 and only 'snuck in' to the bottom of the top 25. Even a shoulder injury that cost him the tail end of the 1938 season does not seem to have derailed Long, who just turned 25 and is 33-20 with a 121 ERA+ for his two seasons with the Pioneers. He and Jake Smith, who you will read about shortly, certainly help soften the blow of seeing all the Fred McCormick accomplishments in Toronto for St Louis fans as both joined the Pioneers in that deal. AL MILLER: 1934 #9: The California Kid was picked two spots after Higgins in 1933, but unlike the Boston pick Miller was a high school selection. He made his big league debut with one appearance at the end of the 1935 season and actually lasted just an inning because of a sore wrist. 1936 was a dream year for Miller and the Chicago Chiefs, one which saw him post a 21-8 record with a 2.87 era and help the Chiefs win the first of two World Championship Series in a 3 year span. His numbers dropped off a bit each of the next three years but his rookie season would be extremely difficult for anyone to surpass. Miller did have a losing year this season but it was a rough one for the entire Chiefs team and he is 65-45 with a 127 ERA+ for his young career (he just turned 24 last month). JAKE SMITH: 1932 #24: A 13th round pick out of St Patrick's, Smith spent just the one season in the top 25 and was in the mid-thirties the following season before dropping off the list as he got playing time with the Toronto Wolves. Was part of the Fred McCormick trade and has really blossomed in St Louis, winning 20 games in 1938 and going 12-8 this past season. He is 30 and perhaps it is a stretch ranking him with Allen, Barrell and Crawford (and he clearly is a step down from these guys) but he is also on the career path to be much better than guys like Cole or Thomas. 75-71 with a 109 ERA+ but trending up based on his past two seasons. MID LEVEL GUYS CHUCK COLE 1930, 1931 & 1932 ranked 7th each year: Cole is one of those guys I would put squarely in the middle. Never quite became a top starter although he did lead the CA in wins with 21 for Toronto in 1926 and was 18-10 the previous year but has also had an ERA+ of under 100 4 of his 7 big league seasons. Now with the Stars and was 7-9 as a back of their rotation guy. He will turn 30 before the 1940 season begins and is 82-90 for his career and about league average with a 103 career ERA+. JOHN EDWARDS: 1934 #14, 1935 #9, 1936 #7: We are going to give Edwards the benefit of the doubt right now and list him as a mid-level guy but there is a feeling he might be another one of the those Baltimore pitchers who is considered a bust (see Pinky Conlan and Rusty Petrick), at least by top 25 prospect standards. Part of the 1933 draft class and one of three pitchers to go high in the draft that year from feeder league Hartford High School (Al Miller and Pepper Tuttle were the others). Edwards made his debut in Baltimore as a 20 year old and spent all of the following season (1937) in their rotation but struggled going 11-19 with a 4.42 era. Baltimore traded him to Boston and he has been a .500 pitcher for the Minutemen and threw 4 shutouts in 1938. He was Boston's #5 starter this past year so did not see a lot of action and is 36-44 with a 101 ERA+ for his career. OSA feels his future lies as a back-end of the rotation starter but you would hope for more than that from a former top 10 prospect. JACK ELDER: 1932 #8: A fifth round pick way back in 1928 out of high school, Elder suddenly jumped into the top 100 all the way up to 8th in 1932. By 1933 he was a big leaguer, going 13-13 for the Gothams but spent most of 1934 back in the minors. He had a strong 1935 season in New York but was dealt to Washington as part of the purge of '36 by the Gothams. He did not show a lot in Washington but spent most of his time in the pen until he was inserted into the rotation this year and had a breakout season, going 20-20 with a 3.63 era. He is about to turn 29 and could build on this season but other Washington pitchers (see Bill Anderson as the best example) have been one-hit wonders and until Elder shows his 1939 campaign is not a fluke he is going sit firmly in the mid-level category. I expect Elder to continue to be a decent pitcher for the next few seasons but there is something about pitchers not being able to string two good years together in Washington so he could perhaps drop off to bust status similar to Anderson as well. 65-73 for his career with a 105 ERA+ GEORGE THOMAS 1930 #9, 1931 #8: Similar results to Chuck Cole but in Thomas' case injuries might have played a role. He was 7-12 for the Chiefs this season as a 29 year old after spending the 8 years of his career in Montreal. Thomas is 87-96 overall with a 98 ERA+ for his career. BUSTS BILL ANDERSON 1930 #22, 1931 #24: Anderson had that one special year when he was dealt from Toronto to Washington and won 22 games for the Eagles. It was the only full season of his career when he was a better than average pitcher if you go by ERA+, although he did score higher in 1933 as a 24 year old but only pitched half the season due to injury. He has been terribly inconsistent and just plain awful at times in Washington with an 84-101 career record and a 95 ERA+. Perhaps he rebounds enough to be considered a mid-level guy at some point but OSA does not see it, calling Anderson, who will be 31 on opening day next season, an emergency starter at best. HARRY CARTER: 1932 #19: A 15th round pick out of high school so not a lot was expected of Carter initially but he did spend most of his minor league seasons ranked in the top 100. Carter put up some pretty decent numbers in the minors and eventually made his FABL debut with the New York Stars in 1934. His career was up and down with a decent showing as a rookie and not a bad year two seasons later but in between he had his struggles. As the Stars improved there was no room for Cater so he spent last season in AAA and with a 38-44 career record and a 91 ERA+ his baseball future might be just as a minor leaguer. PINKY CONLAN 1930 #12, 1931 #10: Perhaps it is because he was stuck in Baltimore but the now 30 year old Conlan appears to be on the downside of a career that never quite lived up to expectations. His best season was 1937 when he went 9-8 with a 2.95 era before an shoulder injury cost him the final two months of the season. His career record is 42-71 with a 92 ERA+. GEORGE GILLIARD: 1933 #9: Selected 5th overall out of Henry Hudson College by the Washington Eagles in 1932 after leading the Explorers to an AIAA World Championship Series title and teamed with Curly Jones and Joe Hancock. Unfortunately for the Eagles Gilliard turned out much more like Jones than Hancock, pitching just 10 big league games and is now with independent Portland of the Great Western League. Injuries like take much of the blame for his failures as Gilliard had far more than his share of them. JOHNNY JACOB 1930 8th, 1931 9th: Jacob was also the 10th ranked prospect in 1929 but went just 20-17 for his FABL career before injuries ended it at age 25. Probably more fair to call him a victim of bad luck rather than a bust as he was showing nice progress for Brooklyn before suffering a torn UCL twice in less than 24 months. CURLY JONES: 1933 #4, 1934 #4: While he has stuck around the big leagues for the past six seasons it is hard not to think of the word 'bust' when you hear the name Curly Jones. A first overall pick with more hype than anyone not named Barrell, Jones was a polarizing figure right from the start with his pseudo-retirement and later his bouts with wildness. He is now back for his second go around in Brooklyn with stops also in Detroit and originally with the Gothams, but 'Wild Willie" is just 34-32 with a 101 ERA+. Clearly average numbers but Curly Jones was supposed to be so much more than an average pitcher. ART KEETER: 1932 #10: Originally a second round pick of Boston's out of high school in 1927 Keeter did not crack the top 100 until he burst on to the list in 1932. By the middle of the 1933 season he was a big league starter at the age of 24. Keeter spent 1935 in the minors and missed substantial time that year with a shoulder injury. Back in Boston for 1936, Keeter was a league average pitcher that season and perhaps slightly above average when he went 16-13 for the Minutemen in 1937. 1938 was a bad year for him and he was not much better this season prompting Boston to release him in August and he caught on with Detroit, signing a minor league deal. Keeter had a couple of decent seasons after his major injury so it's hard to blame injury for his failures, but he was just 45-58 with a 96 ERA+ in 164 games with Boston. He will be turning 31 before next season starts and it is unlikely he gets a big league opportunity again with the Dynamos so this might just be the end of Art Keeter's FABL career. DIXIE LEE: 1932 #9, 1933 #14, 1934 #16: Lee actually spent 4 seasons in the top 25 as he was ranked 16th again in 1935. Made his big league debut with St Louis in 1936 but was a dismal 3-12 with a 5.25 era. He did improve the next two seasons including a very strong 15-11 3.59 showing in 1938 but regressed terribly this past year with a 3-11 campaign and an 80 ERA+ that saw he relegated to the pen. He is still young, just 26, so there may be hope but it is looking more and more like Lee will never reach the potential teams saw when he was a first round pick in 1931. Career record of 37-49 with a 101 ERA+. CHUCK MURPHY: 1931 #18, 1932 #15, 1933 #22: Spent three years in the top 25 as scouts waited for the former 1930 first round pick out of Ellery College to reach his potential. We are still waiting although he did have a couple of decent seasons and went 13-8 with a 4.70 era for the Sailors this past year. Maybe we are overly harsh in not ranking him as a mid-level guy but the 30 year old is just 48-54 for his career and his on to his 5th organization. Perhaps he has some decent seasons left and eventually elevates his legacy but right now we have to call him a disappointment. RUSTY PETRICK: 1934 #24, 1935 #11, 1936 #24: Maybe the weight of being known as the pitcher who was traded to Baltimore for Rabbit Day is too much for Petrick to handle. The former Gothams first round pick still has plenty of time to pull himself out of the bust category as he is just about to turn 24 and already has 3 years of big league action under his belt. Petrick is 27-49 with an 88 ERA+ for those three seasons and when you think about him, John Edwards and Pinky Conlan you have to wonder if something in the Baltimore development system is broken - or perhaps the losing atmosphere is the reason. Either way the Cannons have drafted some seemingly very good pitchers who do not appear to be turning out that way. One has to hope Rufus Barrell and Vic Carroll, both more recent additions to the top ten prospect list, do not also suffer the same fate. ROY PRICE: 1933 #19: A former Boston first round pick out of Bayou State. He missed most of the 1935 season with a back injury so perhaps that impacted his development but he never made the Minutemen before being dealt to the Eagles organization for a draft pick in 1935. In 1936 he did spend some time on the outskirts of the top 25 prospects and made his big league debut that season, posting a 3-8 record with a 6.48 era in 15 starts for Washington. That will likely be the end of his big league career as after spending the next two seasons in AAA the Eagles released him and Price is now pittching for independent Syracuse. DUTCH SHELDON: 1930 #15, 1931 #19: Sheldon just might be a late bloomer and elevate himself out of the bust class. He did go 10-17 with a 4.37 era in his first season as a big league starter at age 30 with the Philadelphia Sailors. Prior to that he spent a few seasons in the St Louis bullpen but his stock had dropped significantly as the Pioneers let him go for a marginal low level prospect. Sheldon has posted some decent numbers out of the St Louis pen so perhaps it is also a case of not being given the opportunity to show what he can do. He is 19-32 with 11 saves and a decent 111 ERA+ for his career so even though OSA might have thought he had a much higher ceiling, Sheldon has had a decent career when you consider he was originally at 15th round draft pick. GENE WHITE: 1933 #15, 1934 #24: He was one of the few players in the top 25 for 5 seasons as White was ranked 18th at the end of 1935, 13th in 1936 and 17th in 1937. He is still just 25 years old so quite possibly too early to call him a bust but White has not shown a lot, going 16-22 with an 81 ERA+ in two plus seasons with the Keystones. OSA is no where near as high on White now as compared to early seasons so at this time he goes in the bust category but with a note he may have the potential to climb out of it. Here is the complete list of pitchers who were ranked in the top 25 prospects on the year end OSA rankings. It includes their position on the ranking list, the team they were with at the time, their age at the time and the level they finished that season at. STARS ADD DIXIE LEE Almost before the World Championship Series parade was concluded the New York Stars announced a trade. The Stars dealt a couple more prospects away in order to add another pitcher in Dixie Lee. Lee, who spent a number of seasons as a top-25 prospect but has not lived up to expectations in St Louis, is coming off of a terrible 3-11 season for the Pioneers. The Stars hope he can regain the form he displayed two years ago when he went 15-11 with a 3.59 era for the St Louis but TWIFB has labelled him as a 'bust' at least as far as living up to the billing he had as a minor league. Lee is young, just 26 years old, so the Stars clearly hope he can turn things around. Going to the Pioneers are Ira Armstrong, a 20 year old second baseman who finished this past season in Class A and is ranked #95 on the current OSA prospect list and 19 year old outfielder Cal Page, who is ranked 98th by OSA. The scouting service is very high on Armstrong, but he struggled at Class B this season after being part of the old lottery system and joining the Stars in 1937. Page was a 7th round pick this past June and hit .234 in 75 games at Class C. JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE: It was clear the Pioneers had seen enough of Lee that they decided a change of scenery was for the best. Armstrong looks like a very good prospect and makes an improving minor league system in St Louis even deeper. The move also seems to make sense for the Stars as they hope Lee might regain his form and while they did part with a pair of top-100 prospects, neither really had a future in New York as Armstrong's path is likely blocked by 22 year old Henry Bush, who split last season between A and AA and the outfield in New York is far too crowded for Page to make a dent in the roster. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/22/1939
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1939 Off-Season
OCTOBER 30, 1939 CANNONS SHOOT OFF TO CINCINNATI The saga that has become the main off-field topic of discussion around the Federal Aligned Baseball Leagues has come to a surprising close. The sale of the Baltimore Cannons was announced at a joint press conference at the FABL Headquarters in Washington, DC. In attendance were the soon-to-be former Cannons owner Oscar Banner, FABL President Sam Benton and the new owner, Cincinnati's John E. Tice. The surprise of the event was, however, the announcement of the new co-owner of the Cannons: George Theobald. Just days after he lost his presumptive majority stake in the Detroit Dynamos, Theobald will be joining Tice in owning the Cannons. Benton took center stage while a smug-looking Banner stood behind his left shoulder and Tice stood behind his right. Benton stated that he had agreed to the sale only after George Theobald joined the ownership group. The details of the sale were explained at length by Benton and then expounded upon by Tice, and are as follows: 1) The city of Cincinnati sold the ballpark to John Tice, who immediately began drawing up plans to temporarily expand the seating capacity from 17,500 to 28,000 by bleacher seating across the outfield, and also by extending the currently small second deck down both base lines. Tice promised these additions will be completed by opening day of 1940. 2) A new ballpark will be built across the street from Monarchs Field. Tice Park, as it will be known, will seat "at least 40,000" according to Tice himself. 3) George Theobald will be a full 50% owner of the club and will serve as club President, the role typically held by the majority owner. Tice will own the other 50%. Tice and Theobald also have a legal agreement that Theobald's shares will devolve to Tice upon either Theobald's retirement or death. In either case, Tice will pay Theobald or his estate for the shares. 4) Theobald will come out of retirement (again) to manage the Cannons. Tice also promised that the Cannons' staff would "be the envy of FABL." 5) Powell Thompson purchased Theobald's shares in the Detroit Dynamos. League bylaws prevent any individual from owning, even partially, more than one club. The details of the sale, according to Benton "are private." 5) The Cannons nickname will remain. Tice admitted he wanted the team to be called the "Monarchs" after his grandfather's team. Benton, possibly under pressure from Brooklyn owner Daniel Prescott, deemed "Monarchs" too similar to Prescott's team's "Kings" moniker and denied the name request. Tice noted: "Cincinnati Cannons works for me." 6) The Cincinnati Steamers, the AAA affiliate of the Cleveland Foresters, will be relocated, according to Benton. That location "will be announced at a future date." Not present at the media event was George Theobald. The septuagenarian was "busy working on building a staff" according to Tice. Tice admitted that as the Chief Executive Officer of one of the nation's largest corporations, he had his hands full and Theobald is "the very definition of a 'baseball man'" and Tice is happy to have Theobald handle the club. Tice also confirmed that none of the Baltimore staff is likely to be retained, and admitted that one of Theobald's first duties is to find a new GM for the club, "one who will give us not only a fresh start, but a successful one." Banner made few comments, but did admit that he regretted that "the fine city of Baltimore will no longer be home to a FABL baseball club" and that he hoped someday another team would call Baltimore home. MOTOR CITY MAYHEM: JUDGE's RULING SHAKES UP DYNAMOS OWNERSHIP A discrepancy in the most recently filed last will and testament of Edward Thompson caused a judge in Detroit to rule that the former Detroit Dynamos owner's previous will, filed in 1935, is the one that is legally binding. Under the now-voided will, 12% of the stock in the Dynamos was left to pro football owner Roland Barrell and 25% to George Theobald (who already owned 26% of the club). The previous testament, now held as legally binding, left no shares to Barrell and only 20% to Theobald, giving the remainder to Powell Thompson, the younger brother of Edward Thompson. The result is that Powell Thompson and not George Theobald is now the majority owner of the Dynamos. The unexpected change in ownership caused shockwaves through the organization and also across the Federally Aligned Baseball Leagues, where Theobald is held in very high esteem and Powell Thompson is an unknown factor. As soon as the ruling had been handed down - and before it had been made public, Theobald abruptly "retired" as manager of the Dynamos but would resurface very quickly in Cincinnati as a part-owner and manager of the transplanted Baltimore Cannons franchise. The 76-year-old Theobald holds the FABL record for most managerial victories and it was rumored he planned on managing at least another four years. Reportedly he and Powell Thompson "do not see eye-to-eye" and this is assumed to be the reason Theobald left for the Cannons. FROM A KING TO THE QUEEN CITY One of the first decisions made by new Cincinnati Cannons co-owner and Manager George Theobald was the announcement that Tiger Fan has signed on as the club's General Manager. He will join the team immediately as the Cannons strive to establish a new identity in Cincinnati and wash away the stain of 6 straight last place finishes in the Continental Association. Theobald only made a brief comment when contacted after the news leaked out but he did confirm that he has found his General Manager. "Yes, Tiger Fan was offered and has accepted the position with the Cannons. He will join me in Cincinnati in the near future and we will quickly get down to the business of building a team that fans can be proud of." When asked if there were any more major announcements coming, Theobald simply smiled and said "You can count on it," before ending the conversation. Tiger Fan had spent 14 seasons in Brooklyn, guiding the Kings to 4 pennants and a World Championship Series win - the first in franchise history - in 1937. The Kings record under his stewardship was 1181-976 for a .547 winning percentage and his club had a record 5 straight seasons of at least 90 victories beginning in 1934. That streak ended this season as the Kings sank to 7th in the Continental Association and won just 70 games, which was the lowest total in the GM's tenure. A press conference will take place in Cincinnati in the coming weeks but a clearly emotional Tiger Fan was approached by reporters as he left Kings County Park after saying his goodbyes to staff in the building. "It is tough to leave this place," he admitted as gestured at the stadium behind him "but I feel it is time for a new chapter in my life. I appreciate everything (Brooklyn owner) Dan Prescott and before him Mr. Presley (deceased former club owner) have done for me and I am very happy - despite the terrible finish last season - with how I have left this team positioned for the future." He added his greatest moment as a King was seeing the joy on the faces of Brooklyn fans the day his ballclub won it's first World title and ended the so-called Curse of Ferdinand Hawkins that seemed to shadow the club for decades. It comes as little surprise that Fred McCormick of the Toronto Wolves and Pittsburgh Miners catcher George Cleaves were this week named winners of the Whitney Award as the top hitter in their respective associations. There was perhaps a little more suspense in the unveiling of the Allan Award winners but in the end they went to Frank Crawford of the Detroit Dynamos in the Federal Association and Joe Hancock of the Toronto Wolves in the Continental. Despite an outstanding season from 41 year old Dave Trowbridge, McCormick was the clear choice as the best of the Continental Association and rightly so. He led the Association in all three triple crown categories (.399,29,123) joining Al Wheeler, who did it with Brooklyn in 1935, as the only hitters to win a triple crown in the CA. McCormick also finished just 1 hit shy of being the first CA player to hit .400 in a season since Powell Slocum's last of six such accomplishments came in 1922. It is the second straight Whitney Award for McCormick, who is also a 6-time all-star. This is just his second year in the Continental Association after a blockbuster trade moved him from St Louis of the Federal Association. While he never won a Whitney in his 7 seasons with the Pioneers, McCormick did finish in the top three in voting on 3 occasions. Pittsburgh's George Cleaves became the first catcher to lead the Federal Association in batting average since T.R. Goins did it in 1926. Goins is also the only catcher to win a Whitney Award prior to Cleaves collecting his first this season. Goins won a pair of them - in 1926 with Washington and again in 1934 with Cleveland of the Continental Association. Cleaves, who turns 26 on Halloween, is a 5-time all-star who has spent his entire career with the Miners. This past season he hit .344 with 18 homers and a Federal Association best 126 rbi's. The Federal Association Allen Award race was a two horse battle between Frank Crawford of the Detroit Dynamos and Lefty Allen of the pennant winning Pittsburgh Miners. The voters decided the 31 year old Crawford (25-6, 2.58) deserved the nod for his first Allen Award over Lefty Allen (24-8, 3.23), who was second to Crawford in wins, third in ERA and led the Fed in strikeouts for the third consecutive season with 220. Allen had previously won the award that shares his last name in 1937. Leading up to the voting there was some debate over the Allan Award winner in the Continental Association with no clear dominating candidate but in the end it was nearly unanimous in the decision that Toronto's Joe Hancock emerged on top. The lack of a twenty game winner in the CA for the first time since 1932 was also a factor with only Billy Riley of the New York Stars recording 19 victories. Riley would claim 1 first place vote but the remaining 15 all went to the young Toronto ace. Hancock, who finished second behind Chicago Cougars veteran Dick Lyons last season, won the Allen on the strength of his 15-13 record with a 3.09 era and a league leading 131 strikeouts, making it the third straight year the 26 year old has led the CA in K's. With both Hancock and McCormick winning it is the first time since 1935 that a pair of teammates swept the awards but their club did not win the pennant. That was Brooklyn with Al Wheeler and Tom Barrell claiming the prizes and the Kings finished just 1 game back of the champion Cleveland Foresters that season. In all this is the 9th time a pair of teammates have both won year end awards going back to the introduction of the Allan Award in 1926. Surprisingly Toronto's duo are not the first teammates on a 6th place club to each win as that distinction belongs to the 1932 Baltimore Cannons as they started their descent into mediocrity that season as Lou Kelly and Rabbit Day were the winners Code:
TEAMMATES TO WIN ALLEN AND WHITNEY AWARDS IN SAME SEASONQUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/30/1939
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Off-Season November 1939
NOVEMBER 27, 1939 CINCINNATI CANNONS REPLACE ENTIRE FRONT OFFICE The Cincinnati Cannons may not have a lot of superstars between the white lines when they take the field next April but you will be hard pressed to find a more star studded front office and coaching staff than what the Cannons have amassed. The latest addition's are Rufus Barrell, founder of OSA, as the club's Scouting Director along with Big George Johnson and George McDermott as the pitching and hitting coaches respectively. It began of course with the announcement that the game's all-time winningest manager, Hall of Famer George Theobald, would take the reigns of the club and also be co-owner following the purchase and relocation of the former Baltimore baseball club. At that time the Cannons other principle co-owner John Tice, hinted wholesale changes would be coming. While none doubted that meant a complete front-office housecleaning for the decaying organization which has spent the last six season at the bottom of the Continental Association, few expected the shock wave of news that followed over the next week. The first piece put in place was the General Manager as just days after the sale was made official Theobald introduced Tiger Fan as his club's new GM. A 14 year FABL veteran, Tiger Fan had previously spent his entire big league career building the Brooklyn Kings into a 4-time pennant winner and oversaw a club that had a CA record 5 consecutive 90+ victory seasons. "We've taken our time in finding what we hope is an excellent, far-seeing general manager. I don't think you'll have to worry about Tiger Fan suffering from myopia. He presented a clear, concise, and realistic assessment of our club in every interview we held, and just seemed to grasp what we're looking for," noted Theobald. He also mentioned that the assessment was "brutally honest and matched my own conclusions as to the sorry state of affairs at this club." "The turnaround starts now," Theobald stated on the day his new GM was announced, adding that there will be other "big names" joining the organization in the coming days. While that phrase might sound like hyperbole, it turned out if anything Theobald undersold things in calling his next three hires simply "big names." Here are the newswire accounts of the two major announcements made by the Cannons earlier this month. GOTHAMS SHIP BIRDWELL TO WASHINGTON There were several trades made in advance of next month's Winter Meetings but the most surprising was likely the New York Gothams deal with the Washington Eagles that saw the Gothams send 24 year old righthander Jim Birdwell to the nation's capital in exchange for Washington's first round pick, 5th overall, in the upcoming rookie draft. Reaction around the league was mixed, with one rival Federal Association GM calling it a huge coup for the Gothams while another executive in the league felt Washington won the trade by a wide margin and felt it was a knee-jerk reaction by the Gothams brass to give up on Birdwell so quickly following an admittedly very poor rookie season in which he went 3-11 with a 5.97 era. OSA, the league scouting agency, feels Birdwell has good raw stuff, but his inexperience hurt him last season and they still believe he is projected to be a mid-rotation piece. JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE: My reaction is mixed on this deal. Yes, Birdwell had a bad year but my sources and my gut feeling is he is going to turn into a very good pitcher. A top five pick is nothing to sneeze at so you can't really say the Gothams lost this deal, but their weakness is clearly pitching and giving up on Birdwell for a pick really seems like a step backwards for the organization. On one hand they say they need pitching, and they certainly do, but then they turn around and start shopping Oscar Morse, who was a solid innings eater last season and a decent middle of the road pitching option. Now they follow it up by giving up on the 24 year old Birdwell after just one season so they can draft another player - admittedly likely a very talented one - but one who is 2 or 3 years away from contributing to the big league club at best. They have also opened the hole in their pitching staff even deeper. While I can't say the Gothams 'lost' this trade I feel I can say that the long suffering Gothams fans, who have been waiting for the tear down that began in 1936 to show signs of success while watching Detroit and, even worse the cross-town New York Stars, rebound much quicker...well, I would say those who pay good money to sit in that new cathedral in Queens and watch the Gothams play - they are the losers of this deal as it did nothing to enhance New York's chances of ending a 4 year stay in the second division next season. The only way I see this deal helping New York is if it is just a precursor to major move in which they move both of their first round picks (their #1 and the #5 from the Eagles) for an elite arm. On Washington's side this, to me, is exactly the type of deal the Gothams should have made. New York has a 'Million Dollar Infield" in place and plenty of young offensive talent. They should have been the ones dealing their first round pick for a pitcher that can help them now. The Eagles deserve full marks for doing just that. Washington, which has been awful for a decade, and it's second year management team is showing it is not afraid to make a move. The Eagles saw a pitcher they liked, and stepped up and pulled the trigger on a deal. Will it pay off? That depends on whether or not the 1939 season of Jim Birdwell was just a case of a top young rookie struggling in his first year in the big leagues on his way to success or was what we saw last year what we are going to get in the future from Birdwell? QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 11/27/1939
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Off-season December 1939
DECEMBER 4, 1939 A year ago the winter meetings were what perhaps ended up deciding the World Championship Series winner as that was the occasion for the New York Stars, fresh off a disappointing 7th place finish in the Continental Association the previous year, to make a bold statement with a pair of deals. The Stars added Moxie Pidgeon, Robert Curry and Mel Hancock Jr. in a trade with Washington and followed that up with a move to acquire Ray Cochran from the Pittsburgh Miners. All played key roles in New York's improbable rise to the pinnacle of the sport two months ago. The winter meetings are upon us once again and it will be interesting to see if another FABL club lays the groundwork for a 1940 title in the week ahead. There have been a few big names tossed about - the Cincinnati Cannons are said to be entertaining offers on Gus Goulding or one of the other pitchers in their collection of good young, but so far underachieving arms. The New York Gothams already traded 24 year old righthander Jim Birdwell to Washington and there is some speculation that Oscar Morse will also change his address this week. Detroit is said to be considering a deal to move infielder Ed Stewart out of the Motor City after the 31 year old 4-time all-star suffered through the worst season of his career at the plate. Other than that, however, most of the names making the rounds are either career backups or mid-level prospects that are blocked in their existing organization so, at least for the moment, there is little indication of anything monumental occurring although when you gather 16 FABL General Manager's in a hotel deals can come together rather quickly. HALL OF FAME VOTE APPROACHING In just over a month baseball will announce it's next group of inductees into it's Hall of Fame. Just as last season the newcomers to be enshrined will be voted in by members of the baseball media. Before we begin to speculate on just who the 1940 inductees might be let's look at the list of those already admitted to the Hall, which is under construction in Boone County, Illinois: the hometown of FABL founder William Whitney. The building is slated to open in 1941. 1940 POTENTIAL CANDIDATES Unlike last season when it seemed a foregone conclusion that Rankin Kellogg would be elected just months after his retirement from the game, there are no players that retired this past October who will likely ever receive consideration from the voters. However, one has to wonder if the other two star players who retired following the 1938 season, Pete Layton and T.R. Goins, may start to garner support for their inclusion. There are certainly plenty of others but here are several TWIFB feel deserve serious consideration. They are listed in alphabetical order: JACK ARABIAN (1896-1915: Cleveland, St Louis) -Well before Max Morris there was another famous player who left Cleveland for the St Louis Pioneers as Arabian, after winning 3 Continental Association batting titles, was dealt to the Pioneers in 1910 where he finished out his career. He is 6th all-time in career hits with 3,391 and of the five men ahead of him only Zebulon Banks is not already in the Hall. Arabian is also third all-time in doubles trailing only Thomas Watkins and Hall of Famer John Waggoner. Arabian narrowly missed induction last season, falling one vote shy. T.R. GOINS (1923-1938: Washington, Cleveland) - Arguably the greatest catcher to ever play the game, Goins was a 4-time all-star (he was already 32 years old when the first all-star game was played) and won a pair of World Championship Series. Until Pittsburgh's George Cleaves joined him this past season, Goins was the only catcher ever to win a Whitney Award and he owns two of them. The first came with Washington in 1926 when he led the Federal Association with a .395 batting average and the second came 8 years later when he helped lead the Cleveland Foresters to the first World Championship Series win in franchise history. He was a lifetime .336 hitter with 2,622 career hits including 270 homeruns. He leads all catchers in virtually every career FABL offensive stat. Goins also hit .361 while appearing in 4 different WCS with 3 homers and a FABL record 25 WCS career rbi's. JIM GOLDEN (1909-1920: Detroit) - Like Jack Arabian, Jim Golden narrowly missed earning his spot in Boone County last season but has to be considered a front-runner for induction this year. Golden is the only pitcher ever to win a Whitney Award (he won two of them) and he would have had an handful of Allan Awards if they were around when he pitched. Despite having only 11 healthy seasons he won 269 games for the Dynamos while losing just 158. His 35 win campaign in 1916 is tied with Hall of Famer Mike Marner for the most in a single season after the turn of the century and he topped the 30 win mark three times in his career. He won 4 WCS rings with Detroit and is 8-2 all-time in the Series, which gives him more career playoff wins than any other player in history. Golden is also one of just a handful of pitchers to throw a no-hitter, doing so against Washington in 1915. A back injury ended his career at the age of 31. GEORGE JOHNSON (1907-1926: Washington, Boston) - There have been a number of players named George Johnson through out FABL history but only one earned the moniker "Big George". This George Johnson was a dominant pitcher primarily with Boston but started and finished his big league career with the Washington Eagles. He counted 8 twenty-win season including a 31 win 1916 among his 311 career victories. That number is special because no one else since Johnson won his 300th in 1925 has approached that magic number for his career although some speculate Rabbit Day may one day do it. Johnson tossed a no-hitter in 1914 and won a World Championship Series with the Minutemen in 1912. Johnson also recently returned to the game at the major league level as he has joined the Cincinnati Cannons as their pitching coach. PETE LAYTON (1923-1938: Stars, Chiefs)- Above all else Pete Layton was a winner. He owns 6 World Championship Series rings, believed to be the most all-time and is the career leader in WCS runs scored and hits. Twice he was named MVP of the World Championship Series and he also made 4 all-star teams in his career. Layton finished with 2,506 career hits and a .333 lifetime batting average. He won two batting titles, one each in the CA and the Fed and amazingly they came 10 years apart as after leading the CA in 1928 he hit .365 and won the Fed batting crown in his final season, a year in which he also collected 213 hits but then decided to walk away from the game after homering, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2 including the series winner as the Chiefs outlasted Brooklyn 11-10 in game seven of the 1938 WCS which, as it turned out, was the last game of Layton's illustrious career. BILL TEMPLE (1899-1911: Stars, Detroit, Boston)- Temple made his debut with the New York Stars in 1899 and won at least 20 games each of his first ten seasons in the league. He would spend four in New York before moving on to the Detroit Dynamos before ending his career with a stop in Boston. His lifetime record was 284-230 and he won a pair of World Championship rings, going 2-2 in WCS play. The sad thing is as good as Temple was - and many consider him to be the greatest lefthander of all-time, he could have been so much better. Temple was a raging alcoholic and his frequent drunken antics - some of them on the field during games - kept him in hot water and prompted both the Stars and Dynamos to part ways with him. Despite all of his troubles, Temple still managed to to lead his association in strikeouts the first 7 seasons of his career and his lifetime total of 3131 k's is surpassed only by Hall of Famer Charlie Sis. Temple also is one of just 3 pitchers to throw multiple no-hitters, joining John Blackburn and Doc Newell. EDWARD "BIG EDDIE" THOMPSON (Owner Detroit Dynamos 1904-1939) Thompson, who passed away this past summer, was a larger than life character in the Detroit sporting scene who not only owned the Dynamos and their ballpark Thompson Field, but was also involved in the city's football, baseball and hockey endeavours and the Thompson name is on several buildings in downtown Detroit including the Thompson Hotel. His father William Thompson was a textile merchant who founded the Dynamos in 1890 and Eddie would take over when his father passed away in 1904. Eddie was an accomplished athlete as well, playing tackle on the football team at Detroit City College prior to his involvement in running the Dynamos. Under Eddie's ownership the Detroit baseball club won 7 pennants and 5 World Championship Series. THOMAS WATKINS (1888-1904: Washington, Baltimore, Toronto, Gothams) - Won 5 batting titles including a pair of season when he hit over .400, the outfielder notched 3,143 career hits - good for 9th most all-time. He is baseball's all-time leader in doubles with 581 despite only leading his league in that category 3 times in his career. CHARLIE WILSON (1889-1901: Boston, Gothams, Sailors, Chiefs) -Wilson is one of several turn of the century pitchers who could be considered and may one day be enshrined. Others include Aaron Wright, Jack Long, Morris Harris and Alexander Elliott. All are likely longshots on this ballot but we chose to highlight just two of them including Wilson because of what his career could have been as much as what it was. Nicknamed "The Tar Heel Thunderbolt", the Carolina native had a 5 year stretch in the 1890s when he was possibly one of the most dominant pitchers of all-time. He led his Association in strikeouts 6 times, wins 5 times and had the lowest ERA in 5 straight years while pitching for 3 clubs during that time. He threw a lot of innings, over 400 each of his final 8 full seasons, and by 1901 at the age of 29 his arm was out of bullets and Wilson never pitched in the majors after turning 30. Despite that his 332 career wins place him 5th all-time and his 1,927 strikeouts are 12th most in that category. AARON WRIGHT (1899-1915: Pittsburgh, Toronto, Chiefs) Known as "The Old Goat", Wright pitched until he was 39 and was effective right up until the end. At 341-301, Wright had a lot of wins, third most all-time, but he was also one of just 5 pitchers to lose 300 games in their career as well but that is a product of playing on some weak teams and throwing in 698 career FABL games, 6th highest total all-time. Wright was on a strong Pittsburgh club early in his career and helped the Miners win their only World Championship Series in 1901. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 12/03/1939
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1939-40 Offseason: Winter Meetings
DECEMBER 11, 1939 BUSY WEEKEND OF TRADING AT THE WINTER MEETINGS Movement at the winter meetings might have started slow but then the trades came in a fury as 4 deals were announced within a matter of minutes of each other. As it would turn out those deals proved merely to be the appetizer as the main course would come late in the evening when news broke of a major deal between the New York Gothams and Cincinnati Cannons. GOTHAMS GRAB GUS GOULDING A jaw dropping move by the transplanted Cincinnati Cannons as the former Baltimore club deals it's most effective pitcher the last few seasons but stocks up on draft picks. The complete transaction sees 26 year old pitcher Gus Goulding (12-17, 3.89) heading to the bright lights of New York City in exchange for a pair of first round draft picks - the Gothams first overall selection and the fifth overall pick New York had previously acquired from Washington - along with 30 year old catcher Jack Flint (.266,8,63) and 25 year old minor league pitcher Dan Adams. The Gothams pick up a highly touted pitcher who was a second overall pick in 1934 but has had his ups and downs with a bad Baltimore team the past 4 years. Goulding made a storybook big league debut in 1936 as a 23 year old, posting an 8-0 record and a 2.90 era following his mid-season promotion to the big leagues. Since then he has led the CA in losses, but then so have the Cannons, each of the past three seasons and is 38-59 over that period. There is no question he has the talent and New York is banking on a change of scenery helping Goulding take the next step in his development as a pitcher. The Gothams came into the off-season with the goal to and a top level arm without having to sacrifice any of their key young talent including the "Million-Dollar Infield" of Walt Messer, Roosevelt Brewer, Mule Monier and Billy Dalton. In that regard the off-season has been a resounding success but some worry that in trading away Oscar Morse (more on him below) and Jim Birdwell the Gothams still lack the pitching depth necessary to climb out of the second division, a spot they have occupied since their WCS winning 1935 campaign. This is the first move for the Cannons new management team and they certainly made a statement. It is a deal that could blow up in their faces if Goulding lives up to his full potential but after a period of assessing their organization it was determined that the new Cincinnati club needed an awful lot of pieces to overcome 6 years of last place finishes and some questionable draft selections along the way in order to get the organization back on track. With the top two picks (they already owned the #2 by virtue of another last place finish in the CA) and three of the top five the Cannons have an opportunity to give the team a big jumpstart. Adding veteran catcher Jack Flint is a nice pickup as well as he should help steady the young pitching staff. Adams, a 25 year old who had a rough season for AAA Toledo last year, is a player Cincinnati Scouting Director Rufus Barrell feels can perhaps step in to the back of the rotation. "Adams is an extreme groundball pitcher," noted Barrell "and we are hoping our improving defense can help him out. And while we hate to part with such a great young pitcher as Gus, any Scouting Director worth his salt would relish the chance to have three of the top five selections in the draft. Makes having to handle my wife's complaints about me returning to work almost worth it," Barrell added with a smile. We asked esteemed Chicago Herald-Examiner Sports Editor and frequent TWIFB contributor for his thoughts on the big deal. PERCY SUTHERLAND's TAKE ON THE TRADE: To me--at first glance--it's a huge reach by the Gothams. It almost seems like they are going with name recognition only. That is a lot to give up for Goulding. And what scares me about Goulding is the amount of home runs he allows. I have a feeling this will not end well. What New York is essentially betting on is that Goulding is better than Adams plus whomever the Cannons get at 1 and 5 (ignoring Flint, who I've always liked at catcher). I don't see that equation working out. To me, it looks like Cincinnati wins that deal. AFTERNOON FLURRY OF MOVES Prior to the headline stealing Gus Goulding trade there were 4 deals announced in a span of less than thirty minutes. The Detroit Dynamos were the busiest of the 16 teams as they were involved in three of the early deals including sending veteran outfielder Leon Drake to the Chicago Cougars and adding 36 year old pitcher Oscar Morse from the New York Gothams. Jiggs McGee takes a look at each of the early moves: CHICAGO COUGARS acquire Leon Drake from the DETROIT DYNAMOS in exchange for Cy Sullivan, Tony Mullis and a 4th round pick Like much of the league the Dynamos had a surplus of outfielders so the dependable Drake was deemed expendable. His numbers were down slightly last season but he is still a very talented corner outfielder and just might push Rich Langton to the bench with the Cougars. This move and the one we will discuss below for Detroit add a pair of quality depth arms to the Dynamos stable. Cy Sullivan is just 25 years old and a towering presence on the mound a 6'6". He went 13-5 last season, his second in the big leagues, and is a good back of the rotation arm but with the Cougars pitching staff depth it would have been tough for him to fit in the Chicago rotation. Chicago also parts with Mullis, a 21 year old outfielder who split last season between A and AA and has some big league potential. CHICAGO COUGARS send SS Hal Wood and P Juan Pomales to the TORONTO WOVLES in exchange for pitcher Donnie Jones A major deal involving a pair of young talents with the big story being the Jones brothers from Minnesota are reuniting in the Windy City. The Cougars acquired Johnnie Jones from Washington over the summer and the 21 year old who was taken 4th overall in 1936 was the highest selection ever for a Minnesota born pitcher. Donnie, nearly two years younger, outperformed his brother and was a 3-time High School All-American selection before going 6th overall to the Wolves in 1938. Now through a couple of deals the brothers are finally teammates for the first time (they went to 2 different high schools) and are each ranked in the top 15 prospects. Both pitched at AA last year and may be together in AAA Milwaukee come opening day next season. Juan Pomales is an interesting prospect as well but I am shocked the Wolves would part with the younger Jones for him. Pomales is 25 years old and is a two-way player who put up pretty solid numbers (15-6, 3.84 with a .310 batting average and 9 homers) at Milwaukee last season. He is at the age where the time for him to contribute needs to be now and perhaps that is what spurred Toronto, coming off a terrible season a year ago, into action on this deal. Don't discount the value of Hal Wood either as the shortstop, who is also 25, hit .324 while playing plus defense in half a season at Milwaukee following his promotion from AA. The Wood pickup might spell the end of Frank Huddleston's days in Toronto as one of Wood or existing Wolves SS Charlie Artuso would likely shift to second. It is a move designed to make Toronto better now but Jones looks like the type of player that might make the Wolves regret the decision in a decade. DETROIT DYNAMOS acquire P Oscar Morse from the NEW YORK GOTHAMS in exchange for a 6th round draft pick The Gothams made this move well before news broke of the Goulding deal and for a spell I was worried just who might pitch for New York next season. The following was written before the deal with the Cannons went down: If I didn't know better I would be thinking the Gothams PR department is preparing a promotion where a lucky fan gets to start on the mound every fourth day this season because right now they clearly lack the players necessary to make up a big league rotation in 1940. They dealt away Jim Birdwell last week and now the 36 year old Morse is gone to Detroit. New York was already desperate for pitching help and this just exacerbates the situation. Nate Spear was great last year but hurt half the season so it looks like the Gothams either have another big move or two coming or they are going to take a chance that highly touted prospects Bunny Edwards and Ed Bowman are ready. Bowman is just 20 and struggled mightily in AA last year while the 23 year old Edwards spent a fair bit of time in the Big Apple but facing big league hitters was more than he could chew. Even if Edwards and Bowman are ready and Spear can stay healthy the Gothams are still lacking the pitching to round out their rotation. Of course as it turned out everything worked out for the Gothams with Goulding preparing to take his spot along side Nate Speer at the top of the New York rotation. Although, one can't help but think hanging on to Morse for one more year might have been a good safety net in case Speer gets hurt or one of the young arms struggles. DETROIT DYNAMOS send C Packy Peck to the TORONTO WOLVES for 1B John Herrick A depth move as the Dynamos add Herrick for a bat off the bench in exchange for Peck, a 25 year old with 9 career big league games under his belt who might make it as a backup catcher. QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 12/10/1939
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Off-season: December 1939
DECEMBER 27, 1939 ELEVEN SELECTED IN RATHER UNEVENTFUL RULE FIVE DRAFT It seemed like a rather pedestrian group of players were eligible for the Rule Five draft but a pair of teams - the Chicago Cougars and Philadelphia Sailors did elect to select three players each. Traditionally the Rule Five draft does not generate very much talent changing hands and the feeling around the league was this crop was even less skilled than most. Perhaps one or two of the players listed below may eventually have an impact on their new club but looking at the list it is hard to imagine even half of the them sticking in the major leagues this season. If they do not remain on the drafting team's big league roster the entire season they are returned to their original organization. Here are the Rule Five selections: ROUND ONE CINCINNATI: Jesse Bowen P- Bowen is a 23 year old righthander who was originally selected by the Philadelphia Sailors in the 5th round of the 1934 draft. Last season he was 8-12 with a 4.47 era at AA and OSA says if he can add another quality pitch, he could work his way into the rotation.WASHINGTON: Vic Hall CF- The 23 year old was selected from the New York Gothams organization after hitting .302 at AAA Toledo last season. An 8th round pick in 1934, Hall had spent some time in the top 100 prospects list but OSA now feels he is a below average centerfielder suitable for a reserve role. SAILORS: Jack Hale P- Hale was 13-13 with a 5.11 era at AA Portland in the Cleveland Foresters system last year. He is two years older than Bowen, the pitcher the Sailors lost to Cincinnati but OSA feels he could perhaps make the back end of a big league rotation. Was originally a 2nd round pick of Washington in 1935 but was dealt to Cleveland in the trade that brought Mel Carrol to the Foresters. COUGARS: Mickey Fulton 2B- The Cougars always seem to be quite active in the Rule Five and this year was no different with Fulton being the first of three selections for Chicago. A 1935 third round pick of Montreal, Fulton hit .293 split between AA and AAA in the Saints system last year but missed a month with an injury. Now 25, OSA says with enough injuries, Fulton might force his way into the line-up. DETROIT: Jim Baker P - Detroit rounds out the first round by selecting the 21 year old righthander from the Pittsburgh Miners organization. Pittsburgh originally drafted him in 1936 (round 12) but released him in his rookie pro year. He bounced around in the Lone Star Association for a spell and was also signed briefly by Washington before being released and brought back to the Miners. He was originally a second baseman but converted to pitcher last season and went 6-7 with a 4.11 era between Class A & B. OSA says he is projected to be a pretty solid relief pitcher but hard to see how a pennant contender like the Dynamos would be willing to hide him on their big league roster all season. ROUND TWO CINCINNATI: Art Black P - The 30 year old righthander has enjoyed two very strong seasons as the anchor of the bullpen in AAA Milwaukee so the Cannons, in need of a pitching upgrade, decided to grab the 30 year old out of the Cougars organization. A minor league veteran with 252 games of AAA experience, Black has appeared in just 11 as a big leaguer, back in 1934 and 1935 with the Cougars. Chicago selected him way back in 1927 in the fifth round. OSA is not sold on his chances at the major league level, feeling he could have some real problems with lefthanded bats. WASHINGTON: Bill Morris OF- Just as the Cannons went with two pitchers, the Eagles also doubled up selecting a pair of centerfielders. Morris is a 23 year old Buffalo native who was drafted by St Louis in 1934 in the 22nd round. He hit .292 between AA and AAA last season and OSA feels he is a utility player but does praise his defense and strong outfield arm. SAILORS: Joe Scott OF - Like first round selection Jack Hale, Scott is 25 years old. He hit .237 for AAA Toledo in the Gothams system last year. OSA likes his bat and his hustle and thinks he deserves an audition as a rightfielder with the Sailors. Originally a 13th round pick out of Daniel Boone College in 1935. COUGARS: Luke Conway P - The 23 year old Conway was a fourth round pick of Boston in 1924. Last season he was 8-16 with a 4.41 era pitching at the AA level in the Minutemen organization. OSA feels he is an emergency starter at best. ROUND THREE SAILORS: Lou McEwen 1B - At 32 McEwen is the oldest player selected in this year's rule five draft. He had a huge third of a season in AAA a year ago, batting .415 in Los Angeles in the New York Stars organization but was only ordinary at AA the rest of the year. Originally a Sailor as he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 1925 and played 143 games for the big league club in the early thirties. He also spent some time with the Stars in 1937 and 1938. He is a career .251 hitter with 9 homers in 334 FABL games. OSA feels he has the skills to be an acceptable big league starter. COUGARS: Sam Barnes 2BThe Cougars took a pair of second basemen in their three picks with Barnes, a 23 year old from the Cannons organization, being the second one. He hit .301 with 7 homers at AA a year ago and OSA feels the 1934 9th round draft pick may make the big leagues as a backup. WHO WILL PITCH IN NEW YORK? Courtesy of the New York World Telegram The short answer is, not the same guys as last year. As reported at the end of the season, GM Tom Ward's angry cry of "find me some damn pitchers" echoed down the hallways of the Gothams team offices. Well, the found some pitchers. Are they the right pitchers? We won't know that until 1940. What we do know...Oscar Morse, his 4.42 ERA and his sour attitude will not be in New York. Nate Spear (6-0, 2.21) will top the rotation and try to prove his injury woes of 1939 are past him. Bob Adams (5-5 3.64), also injured this past season will join him. Gus Goulding (12-17 3.89 in Baltimore) will likely slot in at #1 or #2. Then what...The final two rotation spots will be up for grabs. It's likely that highly touted prospect Bunny Edwards (6-10 5.57) will get a shot in spring training to prove he's ready for major league innings. Also in the mix will be recently acquired pitchers Harry Carter (13-8 3.12 for the Stars AAA affiliate), John Douglas (20-8 3.04, also in AAA for the Stars) and Doc Smith (11-4 3.60 at AA for the Cougars). I'm sure we will be seeing a bit of the usual suspects in the spring, Mule Earl, Charlie Sutton, Ernie Wise, Fred Ratcliffe and Sam Hodge. With a steady lineup behind them, Gothams management feel there is enough to propel the team upwards in the FA standings. Only time will tell whether the right moves were made. Still Gothams Assistant General Manager George Rinkenberger says the club accomplished what it set out to do this offseason. "Bring in some decent pitching and add a bat with some pop, without dealing any of the core group we identified at the beginning of the offseason." Here are the additions and deletions (not shown is Washington’s #1 which passed through) from a busy month for the Gothams. Lots of picks used as capital, but the club says they were very comfortable doing that. BREAKDOWN OF GOTHAMS OFF-SEASON MOVES ADDED SP Gus Goulding - 26 years old, 12-17 last year in his fourth season with Baltimore. SP Jim Miller - 26 years old ,went 4-5 last season with a 4.78 era in AAA with the Cougars organization. SP Doc Smith - 25 year old was 11-4 3.60 in AA with the Cougars organization. CF Hal Roberts - 26 year old hit .269 with 31 homers in 112 games for AAA Los Angeles in the Stars organization. 6th rd pick from Detroit SP John Douglas - 28 year old was 20-8, 3.04 in AAA last season. 0-0, 5.40 in 4 career FABL appearances with Stars. SP Harry Carter - 29 year old was 38-44 over 5 seasons with Stars but spent last year in AAA, compiling a 13-8 record. TRADED AWAY SP Jim Birdwell - 24 year was 3-11, 5.97 as a rookie with Gothams last year. Traded to Eagles. SP Oscar Morse -36 year old veteran was 11-18, 4.42 for Gothams last season and is 144-135 for his career. Dealt to Detroit. C Jack Flint - 30 year old hit .266 with 8 homers and 63 RBI's for Gothams last season. Dealt to Cincinnati Cannons. P Dan Adams - 25 year old minor league was 8-17, 6.12 in AAA for Gothams organization last season. Dealt to Cincinnati Cannons. 1st rd pick 2nd rd pick 4th rd pick 5th rd pick 6th rd pick 6th rd pick (Pittsburgh) 8th rd pick QUICK HITS
The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 12/27/1939
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Courtesy of the December 27, 1939 edition of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
DECEMBER 27, 1939 KINGS LOOK TO GET BACK ON TRACK WITH NEW GM After five straight 90+ win seasons and 3 consecutive Continental Association pennants 1939 was a year Brooklyn fans would rather forget as the Kings finished with their worst record since 1925 and ended up free falling to 7th place. It was a bad year all around for Brooklyn as the club stumbled out of the gate, but briefly picked up steam in July and looked like they just might be in the pennant hunt once again, only to endure a second half collapse that can partly be blamed on a season-ending injury to top pitcher Tom Barrell. However, there was much more than just injuries that went wrong for Brooklyn last season starting with a year long slump from five-time Whitney Award winner Al Wheeler and a dismal 29-48 road record that proved far too much for Manager Powell Slocum and his club to overcome. The Kings finished the year with an awful stretch, posting a 24-41 record after August 1st and the controversy continued once the season came to an end as rumours of Slocum, Scouting Director John Spears and General Manager Tiger Fan all bolting to Baltimore dominated the headlines of the Daily Eagle's sports pages in late October. In the end Slocum and Spears stayed put when the perspective ownership group they were a part of failed to keep the team in Baltimore but Tiger Fan, after 14 seasons and 4 pennants with the Kings, decided to vacate the GM's office and head to Cincinnati which became the new home for the Cannons when soap magnate John Tice and legendary manager George Theobald purchased the franchise. It was announced this week that the Kings had found their replacement at the top of the organization as newcomer Ray has taken over as Brooklyn's General Manager. The new GM certainly has plenty of talent at his disposal as the Kings, even after the dismal 70 victory campaign last year, have more wins over the past six seasons than any other team in baseball. Brooklyn also continues to have a solid collection of veteran talent like Tom Barrell and Al Wheeler but also including shortstop Harry Barrell, already a six time all-star despite have recently just turned 26 years of age, and emerging pitchers Art White and Bob Cummings. Veteran catcher Fred Barrell and outfielder Frank Lightbody are still solid contributors as well and Frank's older brother Doug Lightbody is arguably the greatest player in franchise history. Add in the young guard led by Doug & Frank's cousin Jim Lightbody, a smooth swinging second baseman, slugger 'Tiny Tim' Hopkins and outfielders Rats McGonigle and Joe Herman and there is plenty of youthful talent already in town with more on the way led by first baseman Chuck Adams along with pitchers Bill Willman and Sergio Vergara. Brooklyn also has two first round selections, including the fourth overall pick in this month's amateur player draft. The new GM has plenty of pieces to work with but also some tough decisions to make particularly around the future of Wheeler and Tom Barrell. The power hitting outfielder suffered through the worst season of his career at age 31 but he had company as several other Kings hitters, most notably John Langille, also struggled. Was it just a temporary setback and the two will return to closer to their career norms or is it the start of a downward trend? What of Doug Lightbody? His skills are clearly diminishing as his 35 year old body, wrecked by a serious of injuries, is showing signs of breaking down at age 36 but it is no secret Brooklyn owner Daniel Prescott wants to see Lightbody retire a King and reach the 2,000 hit plateau - a figure he is presently 59 shy of achieving. Then there is Tom Barrell, long the ace of the staff and a winner of 3-straight Allan Awards between 1934-36 but he will be 32 before the season begins and had the worst season of his career cut short by a serious arm injury. Scouts around the league are whispering that Tom is no longer an ace but depending upon how he bounces back from the injury he could still be a very effective moundsman. For the first time in recent memory the Kings will not enter the season as favorites to claim the Continental crown but it would be foolish to count them out entirely. The CA is a very balanced group and while perhaps Chicago is taking steps to become the dominant club in the loop, the race for the 1940 pennant seems wide open. Brooklyn has made a few changes from their pennant-winning teams but the Kings still have to be considered contenders if Wheeler and Tom Barrell can get back on track. It is rare for baseball to push the hockey's New York Shamrocks off the top of the sports pages but this is a unique time for the Brooklyn Kings. The club will have a new General Manager for the first time since 1926 and will try to rebound from it's first losing campaign since 1933. Will that dismal recently completed 1939 campaign prove to be the start of a rebuild at Kings County or merely a blip in a long run of continued success for the franchise which has enjoyed unparalleled success the past half dozen seasons? Tiger Fan has left town, bolted for Cincinnati and while some of the Flatbush faithful may see that as a capital offense, he certainly leaves behind a solid legacy including building the team that ended a 46 year drought, and the Curse of Ferdinand Hawkins, with a World Championship in 1937. In the 29 years before Tiger Fan arrived on the scene the Kings had managed to win just 2 Continental Association pennants and were last in the CA each of the two years immediately prior to his arrival. A spirited run marked his debut year with the organization when they won 94 games and finished just 2 back of the then-mighty New York Stars after going just 70-94 the previous season. That was the year that Doug Lightbody, Tiger Fan's first-ever draft pick in Brooklyn, was selected 6th overall out of Mississippi A&M, skipped the minors entirely and went straight to the big leagues - a feat that still remains very rare and most recently accomplished by another Brooklyn drafted outfielder in Rats McGonigle. Lightbody captured the attention of the city back in '26 and was challenging for the batting title as he had the Kings trying to end the Stars run of back to back WCS titles, when a season ending injury - the first of many to befall the talented Lightbody- cost him the second half of the season and probably the Kings a pennant. While Brooklyn would get that pennant the following season but come up short in the WCS against the Philadelphia Keystones one might think in hindsight that ill-fated 1936 run was clear foreshadowing of what was to come for Tiger Fan's Kings - a serious of missed opportunities and tough breaks. After a few middle of the pack seasons and some great stretches but also terrible slumps - both of which would prove to be hallmarks of Tiger Fan's Kings - they put it all together following a series of big trades by the GM that built the near-dynasty that was to come. The first was adding Tom Barrell and his brother Fred, along with Mike Murphy, in a deal with the Chicago Cougars that sent former first overall selection Tommy Wilcox to the Windy City. The next was acquiring a talented shortstop prospect from Cleveland who just happened to be Tom and Fred's younger brother Harry. The final piece was trading nearly the Kings entire draft class and a number of key prospects to bring Al Wheeler and Frank Vance in from Detroit. The result was a record five straight seasons with 90 victories and three consecutive pennants including the curse breaking 1937 WCS win over Pittsburgh. As special as those times were for Brooklyn fans they also have to be considered a disappointment in many ways. The streak probably should have been 5 straight pennants but late season slumps in both 1934 and 1935 left Brooklyn 1 game back of Cleveland in each of those years. Even when they did win the Kings under Tiger Fan never made it easy. A terrible collapse in 1937 meant they needed a 1-game playoff to beat a hard charging Philadelphia Sailors club in '37. Then in 1938 they were cruising along with a double-digit lead on Toronto in late August only to see the Wolves catch them in a two week span. Only a late season Toronto collapse allowed Brooklyn to survive and win their third straight pennant. It's hard to say a team with 5 straight 90-win seasons underachieved but one could make the argument Brooklyn should be celebrating a record five consecutive Continental Association titles. Call it what you will: bad luck, choking under pressure or just plain old fate but the Kings woes were not limited to the regular season. Twice the Chicago Chiefs laid a beating on Brooklyn in the WCS. The first in 1936 had the Kings heavily favoured but they were swept 4 straight as the Brooklyn bats seemingly were put into cold storage by Rabbit Day and the Chiefs. They did finally appear to be the beneficiary of good luck in 1937 when a questionable Pittsburgh pitching change turned the tide of that Series in Brooklyn's favour for a change and the resulting Series victory crushed 'The Curse' for good. Two years later it was the Chiefs again but this time the Kings appeared to have the series well in hand, winning 3 of the first 4 games but then they collapsed with 3 consecutive losses as Chicago once again had the last laugh. Regardless of your feelings on whether the now former GM should be praised for a great run or blamed for not being able to give the 1934-38 Kings a legacy as one of the greatest clubs in FABL history, that era is over. A new one begins with a new General Manager arriving in town and a solid base of talent to work with. Is the new General Manager the perfect New Year's gift for Kings fans who, if it is possible have actually grown used to both the taste of victory but also all to familiar with looking over their shoulders when things are going well just waiting for the wheels to fall off? The future at Kings County has plenty of possibilities and one should not rule out a return to contender status as early as this year but as Brooklyn fans know all to well that light at the end of the tunnel as they approach 1940 could just as easily be an oncoming train. |
January 1940 - Off-Season
JANUARY 8, 1940 TEN THINGS I THINK WITH JIGGS MCGEE 1- We should be hearing about the 1940 nominees for the Baseball Hall of Fame in the next few weeks. That got me thinking about some of the stars who finished their careers after 1925 - so players we were able to see perform at least for a short term in the 'modern era' of human GMs. Obviously guys like T.R. Goins and Pete Layton are locks to someday gain entry to the currently under construction shrine in Boone County, Illinois but what about some of the others. Just looking at players that are already retired there is quite a collection of pitchers worthy of having their candidacy debated. Names like Danny Goff, Denny Wren, Ken Carpenter, Mose Smith and Bill Ross all immediately come to mind. None have the impressive numbers like 300 wins that so many of the turn of the century guys racked up but each likely is worthy of at least being on the ballot someday down the road, but most of those might end up falling just short of election. Perhaps not as many hitters come to mind, although Joe Masters, Hal Eason and Paul Tattersall may deserve some mention as possible candidates one day as well. 2- It was the best of times. It was the worst of times as the Brooklyn Kings of the past half dozen seasons were equally one of the most successful ballclubs in recent FABL history but also the most maddingly inconsistent. This is a crossroads for the franchise coming off a dismal 70 win campaign that snapped their record 5 consecutive 90+ victory seasons. In to the fire steps a new General Manager, tasked with the pressure of determining if 1939 was just a minor blip on their record of continued success, or a signal that a tear down and rebuild is necessary. 3- It has been an unexpected 12 months for baseball fans in the center of the universe as all three New York area teams have undergone or perhaps are about to undergo drastic transitions. We have the previously mentioned Kings situation and now word is the Gothams, mired in what feels like a perpetual rebuild the past half decade, may have parted ways with their General Manager. Details are sketchy but sources say the current GM considered stepping down although late indications are he may have changed his mind. If the early rumours of his exit are true it would be shame if the GM is unable to complete his rebuild. Meanwhile, you have the suddenly stable Stars - a franchise that had been in a freefall until their new boss rode in on a white horse from Cleveland a year ago and carried the club from the depths of the second division to the top of the World (Championship Series that is). No way I would have said at the conclusion of the 1938 WCS that the Stars would be the most successful of the 3 New York clubs a year later, but here we are. 4- Are there two people under more pressure in the Federal Association this season that Detroit Dynamos GM DD Martin and his new manager Patrick Lictenegger? Bridesmaids in the Fed race each of the past two campaigns despite winning over 90 games in both seasons...but this might just be the year Detroit gets over the hump. It has been quite a turnaround for the organization the past couple of years, both on the field and at the box office with record setting attendance numbers, but there is a lot of disappointment in the Motor City because they fell one game short of Pittsburgh last year. With George Theobald gone to Cincinnati after losing his claim to Eddie Thompson's shares of the club, the Dynamos promoted Lictenegger from AA where he had been managing their affiliate in Akron the past four seasons. He has no major league experience, none as a player or coach but he has enjoyed great success with the minor league Wheels, winning two pennants and finishing second the other two seasons. Martin, who we are told is not in new owner Powell Thompson's good books, is banking his job on Lictenegger's ability to deliver a winner in Detroit. Second place does not cut it in the Motor City this time around. 5- Detroit does remind me of the Brooklyn Kings just before they reeled off their three straight pennants. Like the Dynamos the Kings had a pair of 90+ win seasons but were forced to settle for second place both times - ironically behind a Cleveland team run by the current Detroit GM - before finally breaking through. It is obviously very early but the feeling here is this will be the Dynamos year. 6- For that to happen Detroit needs a healthy Sal Pestilli. By all accounts the 24 year old, who is already a three-time all-star, is back to 100% and fully recovered from the nagging shoulder injury suffered in late August that many point to as the single reason the Dynamos did not win the pennant. It is hard to argue with that line of thinking as Pestilli hit just .197 with 2 homers in 31 games after suffering the injury. 7- I already mentioned my early favourite in the Fed is the Dynamos although both Pittsburgh and Boston might have something to say about that, and who knows, maybe the Chicago Chiefs will as well. In the Continental Association is it finally time for this column to give the New York Stars some respect? Well, yes and no. The Stars are a clearly a very good club and I think Bill Barrett, who recently turned 20, will build on the outstanding World Championship Series he had in October and take a huge step forward this season. But I am not ready to call the Stars a repeat champion. I, and many others of course, just love what the Chicago Cougars have put together over the past couple of seasons and if you forced me to pick a winner in the CA right now, I would tell you it will be the Chicago Cougars. 8- If the Cougars do win the CA I expect a lot of the credit would go to Leon Drake. The 30 year old struggled a bit last season in Detroit and his extra base hits were down substantially especially in the first half of the season. Drake, who is the only player in FABL history to have back to back seasons with at least 20 homers, 20 triples and 20 doubles when he turned the trick in 1936 and 1937 and did it with two different teams, will be counted on to have a big season in Chicago. Here is the complete list of players to have a 20-20-20 extra base hit season: Code:
[20 2B-20 3B-20 HR10- Will a new city, a new management team and a fresh start allow the now-Cincinnati based Cannons to escape the Continental Association cellar after the franchise spent the past 6 years there? It will be tough as the CA does not really have a weak team. I think both Brooklyn and Toronto will be improved. Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and the New York Stars all could challenge for the pennant in a pretty balanced loop which perhaps leaves only Montreal as a target the Cannons could surpass this year. MINOR LEAGUE RULE FIVE DRAFT RESULTS A very quiet phase two of the annual Rule Five draft as just 5 players were selected and one of the five shocked his new club by abruptly retiring. There have been some calls for the minor league phased to be abandoned and word is FABL executives are pondering doing just that. As for this season here are the five players who were selected: Gothams take 2B Don Griffin from Cannons- The 26 year old has had two very productive seasons at AAA Indianapolis the past two years but his path in Cincinnati (formerly Baltimore) was blocked. Not sure he will have much more success getting to the big leagues in New York with Roosevelt Brewer standing in his way. Cannons take P Bob Stiles from Keystones- The Cannons are reported to be desperate for big league quality pitching so they took a flier on the 25 year old former 24th round draft pick who went 13-12 for AAA Louisville a year ago but with a 7.30 era. Sailors take 1B Zip Murphy from Miners - An 8th round pick of Pittsburgh in 1935, Murphy hit .328 as a 22 year old in Class A last season. Stars take P Hank Spencer from Cougars - The 30 year old Spencer had 4 seasons of big league experience under his belt but spent last season in AAA. Upon being informed the Stars had selected him, rather than report to the organization Spencer opted to retire, saying his "heart just isn't in the game anymore." Dynamos take C Lou Bennett from Pioneers - Detroit addressed a need for a third string catcher in the 23 yer old Bennett. The 1934 14th round selection spent last season in AA, batting .324 in 85 games. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 1/7/1940
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A Trip Down The Almanac Rabbit Hole
JIGGS MCGEE TAKES A TRIP DOWN THE FABL ALMANAC RABBIT HOLE THE STORY OF SAM REHER - GOOD ENOUGH TO LOSE OVER 400 PROFESSIONAL GAMES One of the great things about this game, and by game I am referring to OOTP but could equally be talking about baseball in general as I can get lost in the pages of baseballreference.com just as easily as I do in the league history pages of OOTP, is the countless number of interesting stories and player careers just waiting to be discovered in a long-term sim. Sam Reher is one such story and I thought I would share my latest wanderings through the FABL history with you. In the entire history of professional baseball only three teams have ever lost 120 games in a season. One is fairly recent as the 1931 Dayton Ducks of the Eastern Association - a St Louis Pioneers affiliate - posted a record of 20-120. They had some big league talent too as among the players on the Dukes roster who played a fair bit you can count Jack Flint, Gail Gifford, Calvin Brown and Clarence Howerton. The Dukes issue was clearly on the mound as they posted a 9.39 team era and finished 67 games back of the Providence Sailors and their 2.90 era. But the Dukes were not the worst team of all-time. In fact they were not even the worst Eastern Association entry. That falls to the Rochester Rooks, who long before they joined the AAA Union League in 1929 were a Eastern Association doormat. The Rooks were bad - like worse than the Baltimore Cannons bad - as they finished dead last in the EA in 24 out of the 32 seasons they were in that loop. They finished last 11 straight seasons starting in 1901 and the stretch from 1906-1909 was especially dreadful. In 1906 they were 21-119 and 72 games out of first place but things only got worse from there as they went 18-122 the following season and in 1908 their 17-123 record was the worst mark of all-time. They bounced back to 47 wins (but still last) each of the next two seasons before finally peaking at 62-78 in 1912, which would be their highest win total in the EA between 1901 and their shift to AAA in 1929. But what drew me in to this rabbit hole that is the FABL almanac is a pitcher by the name of Sam Reher. A native of Nashville, Reher was a 22 year old lefthander when he came straight from the sandlots of industrial league play to the Baltimore Clippers in 1896. He pitched very briefly, just 4 relief appearances for the Clippers that season, but acquainted himself fairly well. However the Clippers had no room for him the following season so he was released but the Chicago Chiefs, fresh off a sixth place finish in the Federal Association, felt he could help them so he was brought to Chicago for the 1897 season. Now 23, Reher had an outstanding season for the Chiefs, going 33-13 and led the Fed in wins, ERA and complete games helping Chicago finish third, just 5 games back of the champion Washington Eagles. Had there been an Allan Award around at the time, it likely would have gone to the young lefthander and it looked like he had a very bright future. Unfortunately, like many stories about young pitching stars who disappeared from FABL all to quickly, Reher's big league days ended with an injury. In his case it was diagnosed as a muscle strain but it limited Reher to just 11 appearances the following season. He posted a 5-2 record and a sparkling 1.87 era but would never pitch in the big leagues again as - here is where the tie-in to those bad Rooks teams comes in - the Chiefs cut him loose in the spring of 1899 and he would sign with AA Rochester. Reher would spend 10 seasons in Rochester - 9 of them as a member of a last place club - and would post a record of 132-418 during that time. He was actually pretty good his first two seasons in Rochester, and even had a winning record (18-13) when they finished 6th in 1900. Reher was also a real workhorse, starting on average about 90 games a season over that time. However, the stretch from 1906 to 1908 must have been awful for him as he posted a cumulative record of 19-186 over that three year stretch. Code:
MOST LOSSES BY A PITCHER IN A SINGLE SEASONSurprisingly, Sam Reher is not the all-time leader in professional losses by a pitcher. That distinction goes to a fellow by the name of Ossie Ragsdale who lost 434 pro games, one more than Reher, in a career that stretched from 1884-1904 and included a 10 game stint -with an 0-1 major league record - for the 1885 Pittsburgh Miners. Ragsdale, a Georgia native, toiled for two decades in the Dixie League and Century League after it became a AAA loop as he pitched for Atlanta, Richmond and New Orleans. Only three pitchers have been good enough to last long enough to lose 400 games in their pro career. Joining Reher and Ragsdale in that dubious accomplishment is a fellow by the name of Ned Greene, but Ned did much of his pitching in the big leagues as he was a FABL regular, although admittedly a much traveled one as he pitched for 8 of the the 16 teams in a career that stretch from 1888-1900 and saw him post a 197-212 big league mark. Despite all of his travels he did manage to be on 5 championship clubs - two in the Border Association with Brooklyn before FABL was formed and 3 more FABL WCS wins. He then finished out his pro days in the Dixie League to make his final record 323-403. It takes a special pitcher to lose as many games as those three did over their careers. They have to be good enough to pitch at that level for such a long time but unless unlucky enough to be saddled with some pretty bad teams. Although none worse than the mess former FABL star, although very briefly, Sam Reher found himself in with the Rochester Rooks. |
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