The draft begins: January 1940
 

JANUARY 15, 1940

BIG TRADES OVERSHADOW OPENING DAY OF THE FABL DRAFT

A pair of major trades made over the weekend upstaged the annual FABL draft. The league was buzzing on the eve of the draft's commencement when the New York Stars traded away one of the key pieces of their championship team by moving 33 year old outfielder Moxie Pidgeon to the Cincinnati Cannons in exchange for the 5th overall selection and the Cannons second round choice. Cincinnati also netted journeyman pitcher Larry Brown in the deal. Speaking of journeys it is almost unbelievable that a talent like Pidgeon will now join his fifth FABL club.

"I look at it as I guess I am just in demand," laughed the veteran left fielder after hearing about the move just days after celebrating his 33rd birthday. "I suppose it's good to be wanted...as I prefer not to think about the alternative point of view."

Pidgeon is a 5-time all-star who has won a World Championship with 3 different teams (Cleveland, the Gothams and Stars) and is coming off a very impressive .296,21,99 season in his lone season with the Stars. Pidgeon, who's final home run of the 1939 season was the 250th of his career putting him in a select group that numbers just eight, also recently notched is 2000th career hit. He broke in as a 21 year old with Cleveland in 1928 before moving to the Gothams in 1935 following a WCS winning season with the Foresters. He would be on the winning side again the following year as he helped the Gothams get revenge on Cleveland in the '35 series but was moved to Washington midway through the 1936 campaign when the Gothams did a massive sell-off following a dreadful first half of the year. Last winter his address changed again when, after two and a half seasons in the nation's capital, he was dealt to the Stars and played a major role in their improbable run from the depths of the Continental Association to World Champions. He will attempt to play the same role with another bad CA team in the Cincinnati Cannons for 1940.

The Cannons are hoping Pidgeon can help them escape a 6 year stay in last place in the Continental Association and the butt of many jokes that the club was subjected to while previously based in Baltimore. Pitching seems to be a weak spot still in Cincinnati, which had many questioning the decision to move top starter Gus Goulding to the New York Gothams in exchange for the first and fifth overall picks as well as two players. However, when the dust settled the Cannons ended up with Moxie Pidgeon, the first overall pick, catcher Jack Flint and pair of depth pitchers in Larry Brown and Dan Adams in exchange for Goulding and Cincinnati's second round pick.

DAN BARRELL'S TAKE ON PIDGEON TRADE:The defending champion Stars sent a couple of proven players to the rebuilding Cannons, receiving a pair of draft picks - one the fifth overall - in return. This deal is an interesting one in many respects. Let's start with the biggest name in the transaction: veteran outfielder Marty Pidgeon. Yeah, everyone calls him Moxie and that's because the diminutive 5'7 Pidgeon works his tailfeathers off. Pidgeon is a skipper's dream come true: he's smart, hard-working and best of all, talented. This Pidgeon has also flown the coop a lot over the course of his career: the Cannons will be his fifth FABL club. Surprising for someone as good as Moxie is. He's hit 20 or more home runs for all four of his previous clubs and can be considered a near-lock to do it again in Cincinnati. For a club in a new city that is looking to both bounce back from a decade of terrible baseball and find a spot in the hearts of an entirely new fanbase, Pidgeon's "Moxie" is a giant step in the right direction.

Also moving to the banks of the Ohio is another much-traded guy: pitcher Larry Brown. "Suitcase" Brown will also be playing for his fifth club. For those who believe in team chemistry the southpaw is another good pickup for the Cannons. His performance on the field... well, Cincinnati is pitching-starved and while Brown is not a main course, George Theobald hopes he can be a tasty side dish. He's been a starter in the past, with moderate success but he has control problems and may be best-suited for the bullpen at this point in his career. He is 31, which is not old, but is on the downslope of a player's career. Still, he's likely a stop gap who can eat some innings for the Cannons while they wait for Vic Carroll to mature and for the next batch of draft picks to turn into something.

Speaking of picks... that's what the Stars got back for Pidgeon & Brown. New York has a slew of relatively high picks now, with five in the first two rounds, two in the 1st and three in the 2nd (this includes a run of three in a row at the end of the first, start of the second: 16th thru 18th overall, the last being the second pick just acquired from the Cannons). The tops of these is the fifth-overall received in this deal. The team has already tapped Bill Barnett with this pick. "B.B." Barnett is a first sacker with big power. He's only 17, but shouldn't be too long before he joins a Stars lineup that already features a phenom just out of his teen years in that other B.B.: Bill Barrett. Yes, their names are really similar and that might cause some confusion but the pair could end up being dubbed the "Killer Bees" for what they potentially can do with the hickory. The Stars also received the Cannons' second round pick, and the feeling here at OSA is that there will be a good talent there for them - as long as GM Brian Chapman and scouting director James Marcou tap the right guy. Always a roll of the dice with draft picks beyond the top handful, so it's a bit of a gamble for the Stars, but one probably worth making.

Ultimately, as is always the case in trades built on draft picks, this one will take years to reveal any winners or losers. For now, the deal helps the Cannons immediately and the hope in NY is that their outfield depth can absorb the loss of a proven star like Pidgeon. Brown is certainly more valuable to the Cannons than he would have been to the Stars. But B.B. Barnett is a likely star (no pun intended) in the making and that 18th overall pick just might turn out to be a good prospect as well.

COUGARS-EAGLES SWAP PITCHERS

As the opening day of the draft drew to a close there was another impactful deal made with news that the Chicago Cougars added yet more veteran pitching in a trade with the Washington Eagles. The centerpiece is 33 year old Eddie Quinn (20-10, 3.31), who was drawing plenty of consideration for the Allan Award last season before a late season slump knocked him out of contention and then an arm injury ended his campaign in September. However, Quinn still finished third in balloting. It was a career season for the 10 year veteran who now finds himself joining his 4th team as the Eagles shipped him to Chicago in exchange for Del Burns and a pair of minor leaguers.

Both Quinn and Burns were former first round picks but each was surrounded in controversy at the time and both struggled to find their form in the early days of their respective careers:

The Chicago Daily News summed up the deal this way:Del Burns was a third overall pick by Detroit in 1934 as the Dynamos reached for a pitcher ahead of players like Adam Mullins, Lew Seals or Bob Donoghue in that draft class which makes his selection seem very similar to the drafting of Quinn by Toronto nearly a decade before. Like Quinn, Burns struggled in his early days in the minors but unlike Quinn, who remained in Toronto and made his big league debut with the team that drafted him, Detroit dealt Quinn to the Chicago Cougars midway through the 1937 campaign. He blossomed last year in AAA (11-3, 4.10), and made his big league debut with the Cougars in September. Burns is presently ranked #97 on the OSA list of top prospects. Also going to the Eagles is Art Saunders, a 22 year old righthander who was 14-3, 2.58 between A and AA last season and shortstop Arnie Scurlock, who is also 22 and coming off a decent half-season at three levels of minors following his selection in the 6th round last year out of Cumberland University.

JIGGS MCGEE'S TAKE ON THE DEAL: This is a unique deal in that it feels like a player is being traded for a version of himself from a decade previous. It seems very much that the start of Burns career is very much like the start of Quinn's but the question is does that continue?

The Cougars get themselves another veteran candidate for their rotation as they do not yet feel comfortable with highly touted prospect Pete Papenfus starting regularly due to an ongoing issue with walks. If Quinn can regain the form he showed last season it is a steal for the Cougars, at least in the short term, and early indications are the the torn triceps - his first serious injury of his career - should be fully healed. Quinn had a slow start in Toronto followed by some decent seasons after being dealt to Cleveland. Then he was below average once he was moved to Washington in 1937 and awful in 1938 when he was 4-13, 5.15. So the big question is "was last season a one-time career year for Quinn or the start of some decent seasons that he provides decent value?" If it turns out to be the latter the Cougars got themselves a great deal for 3 players that really did not factor heavily in their long-term plans.

For Washington perhaps it was a case of selling high as Quinn's trade value has never been higher, but that arm injury certainly dampened interest somewhat. The Eagles are likely hoping Burns can end up being like Quinn, a high draft pick that struggled early but had some decent campaigns later in his career. If so Burns can be a fixture in the Washington rotation for much longer than Eddie Quinn will be around.

Bottom line is this is a deal that could go either way. Perhaps both teams will be happy with the results - the Cougars in the short-term with Quinn helping them perhaps to a pennant and the Eagles if Burns can prove to be a long-term mid-rotation piece.

EARLY STAGES OF DRAFT GOES ACCORDING TO SCRIPT

Despite trading the #5 pick away (which came thru the Gothams originally from Washington) the Cannons still took center stage at the draft as they became the first team in FABL history to own both the first and second overall selections. Cincinnati went with a big bat in Bronx high school outfielder Dick Blaszak with their first pick. The 'Polish Hammer' is all about power and projects to be an elite big league outfielder. With the second selection the Cannons made a move to eventually replace Gus Goulding, who was dealt to the Gothams, by grabbing Lane State pitcher Bill Sohl second overall. The 20 year old is projected by Cincinnati Scouting Director Rufus Barrell to have top of the rotation potential.

Picking third the Philadelphia Keystones went with a local Pennsylvania kid by the name of Joe Quade. Little is known about 17 year old Joe Quade as he has not played high school ball, preferring to focus on track and basketball the past couple of seasons. In fact the slight (5'11", 150 pounds) teen is said to perhaps have Olympic potential as a distance runner. The Keystones reportedly were alerted of his baseball skills by a local scout and from semi-pro ball and private workouts Quade is said to have the potential to anchor a rotation. He clearly looks like an all or nothing pick - someone who could turn out to be an ace but also might just be overhyped. The Keystones will be watching nearby West Chester High very closely this spring to see how their prize prospect fares in high school play before he turns pro in July.

The Brooklyn Kings, under new management, selected fourth and went with bloodlines - something the Kings have been well known to do under their old management- by selecting the cousin of current Chicago Chief Cliff Moss in Lexington, Kentucky high schooler John Moss. Like his cousin, John is a centerfielder coming out of school and has a quick bat, elite skills in the field and a high ceiling.

Next up was the New York Stars with one of the picks they acquired from Cincinnati in the Moxie Pidgeon deal. The much travelled fifth overall pick originally belonged to Washington but was traded to the New York Gothams a couple of months ago before being recently sent by the Gothams to Cincinnati as part of the Gus Goulding deal. When the dust settled the selection was used to pick Bill 'B.B.' Barnett, a High School All-American first baseman out of Brunswick, Ohio. Barnett's biggest asset is his tremendous power potential and he tied first overall selection Dick Blaszak with 11 homeruns, the second most in the high school ranks last season. Barnett is looked at as the eventual heir to Dave Trowbridge at first base for the Stars although the 41 year old Trowbridge is coming off one of the best years of his career and appears to have no intentions of leaving. It may get a little tricky for Stars fans as this pick sets up the potential for a New York lineup to include both Bill Barnett and superstar in the making Bill Barrett. In addition to the name similarity the newest Star may just have the power potential to rival World Championship Series hero Barrett.

Rounding out the selections made at press time we have a pair of outfielders in John Graves from Detroit City College going to the Toronto Wolves at 6th and the Chicago Chiefs following with Ohio high schooler Joe Rutherford.

OSA scouting head Dan Barrell felt the early picks of the draft pretty much followed script. "I kind of expected Barnett to go top 4," explained the former Brooklyn King turned scouting guru. "It was a lock that Blaszak and the two pitchers would be top 4 - Barnett was the guy I thought would round out that group. He and Barrett might make a deadly duo for the Stars." Barrell added that Moss was a solid pick by Brooklyn at #4 but he felt Barnett's power potential would boost him up a slot.


TWIFB columnist Jiggs McGee added the following notes on the first seven selections.

QUICK HITS

• Newest Cincinnati Cannon Moxie Pidgeon is already the only player in FABL history to hit at least 20 homers in a season with 4 different teams and stands a pretty solid chance of increasing that number to five during his upcoming tenure in the Queen City. Others to hit at least twenty in a season with multiple teams are:
  
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  20 HOMERUN SEASONS WITH MULTIPLE TEAMS
NAME            20 HR YRS        # OF  DIFFERENT TEAMS HITTING AT LEAST 20 HR
Moxie Pidgeon    9        4  Cleveland, Gothams, Washington, Stars
Max Morris        16        3  St Louis, Gothams, Cleveland
Al Wheeler        9        2  Detroit, Brooklyn
Dan Fowler      8      2  Boston, Cleveland
T.R. Goins        6        2  Washington, Cleveland
Frank Vance        6        2  Detroit, Brooklyn
Danny James        6      2  St Louis, Detroit
Ed Stewart      6      2  Pittsburgh, Detroit
Hal Eason        5        2  Montreal, Keystones
Tom Taylor        5      2  Sailors, Cougars
John Lawson        5        2  Stars, Cougars
Leon Drake        5      2  Cleveland, Detroit
Pete Layton        4      2  Stars, Chiefs
Cliff Moss        4      2  Montreal, Chiefs
Fred McCormick  4      2  St Louis, Montreal

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• Lou Kelly came close to hitting 20 with two different clubs. He hit at least 20 homers six different times with Baltimore but never got there with any other club although he did hit 29 round-trippers in 1935 but it was split between the Cougars and Pittsburgh. Kelly would also hit 19 for the Miners the following season.
• Jim Hampton has more homeruns (160) than any other player who never hit twenty in a season. Three times Hampton hit 19 for the Chiefs (1929,1930 & 1933) but he never could reach the 20-homer plateau. He is still active but failed to homer in 221 plate appearances for Chicago last season. Number two on that list is Keystones catcher Carl Ames who hit 137 homers including 2 last season but never hit more than 16 in a single season.
• Pidgeon is going to be a key piece of the new look Cincinnati Cannons offense, and I don't think their offense will be that bad at all this season after some lean years in Baltimore. Pitching is another story as while there is potential in last year's first overall selection Vic Carroll and in former #1 overall Deuce Barrell (if he can get untracked) they rotation looks very thin. Adding veteran William Jones from the Stars over the winter will help but Jones is not expected to be ready until May after hurting his shoulder last August. I do find it very surprising that with all of the high draft picks the Cannons have used on arms the last few years that their pitching is such a mess. Whether you blame that on scouting for not selecting the right players, or minor league coaching for not developing them is up to you. But Cincinnati has made wholesale changes in both areas trying to end the 6 year string of last place finishes.
• I love the Cougars move to add Eddie Quinn. It may not pan out but if not there really is nothing lost that the Cougars don't have replacements for elsewhere in the organization. But if Quinn does duplicate his last year performance then Look Out! The Cougars will be well on their way to winning to winning their first pennant since 1933.
• The New York Stars WCS title last year gave them their 9th CA pennant, tying them with the Chicago Cougars for the most all-time. Chicago has been pretty steady winning at least one pennant every decade: 1895 & 96, then 1899 &1900 followed by 1910, 1918, 1922,1931 and 1933. So you would think they are about due.
  
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        CA PENNANTS BY TEAM
  CLUB                  PENNANTS  LAST TITLE
New York Stars        9      1939
Chicago Cougars      9      1933
Brooklyn              6      1938
Philadelphia Sailors  6      1930
Cleveland              5            1935
Montreal              4      1921
Cincinnati/Baltimore  4      1914
Toronto                      4      1911

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION PENNANTS BY TEAM
  CLUB                      PENNANTS  LAST TITLE
Pittsburgh                8          1939
New York Gothams        8        1935
Boston                        8          1915
Detroit                        7          1929
Washington                  7          1925
Chicago Chiefs                4        1938
Philadelphia Keystones  3        1933
St Louis                2          1921

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• Finns claim their ski patrols have destroyed a big Soviet base in the Artic wilderness and have the Russians reeling. Following the defeat reports out of Moscow indicate more than 100 Soviet officers had been called back from the Finnish front, many to face trial before special courts. Later in the week, Moscow denounced the Finns claims, reporting that the Red Army has penetrated Finnish territory on multiple fronts and calling reports of Finnish battle victories "fabrications."
• Nazi planes continue furious assaults on commercial vessels off of Britain while London says British artillary is making some headway in counteracting the attacks.
• For the past five days German bombing planes have been spotted cruising over British ports as fears of attack increase. These were just scout planes, flying at a high altitude, and did not drop any bombs.
• Tokyo's Premier and Cabinet resigned, bearing out predictions that his government would fall if the United States failed to react favorably to Japanese proposals for reopening trade.
• The United States Senate, after hearing sharp attacks on the Administration's spending and defense policies, voted for a joint Congressional investigation of the proposed 1941 budget. However, attempts to stall the House Appropriations Committee's okay for immediate emergency defense outlays of $268 million for the army, navy, Coast Guard and FBI failed as The House overwhelmingly approved the outlay.

1940 Off-Season
 

JANUARY 29, 1940

BIG GEORGE ADDED TO HALL OF FAME ALONG WITH TURN OF CENTURY SKIPPER

George Johnson, long-time star of the Boston Minutemen and one of the greatest pitchers in FABL history, is the lone former player who will be inducted into the Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. Johnson was the only player to receive sufficient votes to qualify this season but he won't go in alone as Big George will be joined in the Class of 1940 by turn of the century manager Edward Wakeham who was selected by a special panel.

'Big George' Johnson started and ended his 16 year major league career with the Washington Eagles but it was as a Boston Minutemen that he will be best remembered. A native of Shamokin, Pennsylvania he made his FABL debut with Washington in 1907, posting an 11-9 record to go with a 2.65 era but the Eagles would not bring him back the following year, selling him to the Class A Lincoln Legislators. He helped Lincoln win the Class A Heartland League championship in 1908 and then moved up to AAA Denver for the next three seasons. It would be 1912 before he returned to the big leagues when the Boston Minutemen purchased his contract. It was a triumphant return as Big George led the Federal Association in victories that season, posting a 25-15 record before splitting his two decisions in the World Championship Series to help Boston top the Brooklyn Kings in 5 games to claim the crown. It would be the only championship ring Johnson would earn although he did lead the Minutemen to another pennant in 1915 but they fell to Montreal in 7 games in the famed Johnston & Johnson series. George Johnson had beaten Montreal ace Bob Johnston in games one and four but came up just short in the deciding game as the Saints pulled out a 1-0 victory to take the series.

Johnson would continue to pitch well for the Minutemen, winning a career best 31 games the following season (1916) and a total of 258 in his dozen seasons with Boston. Following an injury plagued 1923 season in which he struggled to an 8-17 record and a 4.44 era Johnson was traded to Washington and would finish his career with 3 seasons in the nation's capital. At the age of 38 he had a last hurrah of sorts, pacing the Eagles to the Federal Association pennant with a 22-5 record but a September shoulder injury sidelined him for the WCS, which the Eagles lost in 6 games to the New York Stars. The injuries continued in 1926 and while Johnson did win 8 more games to boost his career total to 311 victories, he spent as much time in the trainer's room as he did on the mound. Approaching age 40 he attempted to return for the 1927 season but another injury in spring training forced him to retire.

There was no all-star game or Allen Award in the prime of Johnson's career but he did finish third in the Whitney Award voting in 1916 - his 31 win season for Boston. That season is somewhat overshadowed as both Jim Golden and Charlie Firestone each earned 35 victories that year but since then no other pitcher has won as many as 30 game in a season. Johnson led the Federal Association in wins 3 times in his career and posted a final FABL mark of 311-209, good for 10th place all-time on the career wins list. He also sits tenth in career strikeouts with 2069 over his career and 7th in shutouts with 56. Johnson finished his career with a 2.96 ERA. He racked up 625 mound appearances and struck out 2069 in 4811 innings. Johnson's legacy also includes a no-hitter, tossed against Detroit in 1914, and now also includes the designation "Hall of Famer."

Asked by reporters to describe what it takes to become a Hall of Famer, he replied, "I guess it all started at my high school graduation. The speaker said to be successful in life, you needed to find 'something you love.' I am here today because I found something I love. Baseball has been my life. It has never been a job. I have been able to have fun playing a game and making a wonderful life for myself and my family. I am a kid that never really had to grow up. Just go to the ballpark each day and throw strikes. That's it."

George Johnson closed by saying, "God gave me the talent and blessed me with great coaches, managers, and teammates, who helped me develop it."

Now 53 years old, Johnson will return to FABL dugouts this spring as he has joined the Cincinnati Cannons, and his long-time former Manager with the Minutemen George Theobald, as the club's new pitching coach.
A short-list of 9 candidates was presented to a group of veteran baseball writers and they were allowed to list a maximum of three names on their ballot with a player being required to appear on 75% of them to qualify for election. Johnson was the lone qualifier and did so with the minimum 9 votes. Here are the 1940 election results:
The second inductee in this year's class is 19th century manager Edward Wakeham who was added by a special committee which looks at managers and other builders of the game. Wakeman spent over 20 years as a manager primarily in leagues prior to the formation of FABL. He led the Chicago Chiefs to a championship in the old Border Association in 1877 and a decade later Wakeham would guide the Providence Gems to three straight Century League titles. He would return to the Chiefs and usher them into the beginning of FABL before also spending time with the New York Stars and Pittsburgh Miners. In all, Waheham spent 22 seasons as a big league manager, posting a 1397-1160 record and winning four league titles. He also played briefly as an outfielder in the first two seasons of the Border Association, including 1877 when he held the dual role of player-manager for the Chiefs. His younger brothers Jack and Park also played professionally but like big brother Edward were better known as managers. Jack, who was 12 years younger, managed nearly as long as his older brother while Park spent 5 seasons as manager at the major league level and a number of years in the minors.

JACK CLEAVES MAY MISS START OF SEASON

Bad news for the Pittsburgh Miners as all-star infielder Jack Cleaves has reportedly suffered a setback in his recovery from a broken kneecap which leaves his status for the start of the season in doubt. The 32 year old hitting .326 last season but was limited to just 88 games due to a number of injuries including the broken kneecap which was suffered late in the season and prevented Cleaves from suiting up in the World Championship Series, in which Pittsburgh was swept by the New York Stars.

Cleaves was said to be pushing himself too hard in efforts to be ready when Miners camp opens next month and the result is he is expected to miss most, if not all of spring training, and there is a chance he will not be ready return when the Miners open defense of their Federal Association Pennant in April.

COMPLETE RESULTS OF 1940 WINTER DRAFT

The January phase of the 1940 Amateur player draft has been completed and while outfielders dominated the first few picks when the dust settled on the opening round it was once again the pitchers who were in the highest demand with 8 of them going in the opening round. The eight first round pitchers selected this year is tied for the second most ever and the highest total since a record 12 pitchers went in the first 16 selections of the 1933 draft. That 1933 class included Joe Hancock, Dick Higgins, John Edwards, Al Miller and Earle Robinson who were picks one thru five as well as Bob Cummings, Nate Spear, rusty Petrick, Chris Clarke, Don Miller, Tommy Trott and Jim Whitely. The 1932 class marked the only other time prior to this year that at least half of the first round picks were pitchers.

Three teams (Cincinnati, New York Stars and Brooklyn) had two first round selections which left the New York Gothams, Washington Eagles and Detroit Dynamos without a pick in the opening round. The Gothams had also traded their second round selection away making them the final team to have a selection with their regional round choice (round three) being the only player the Gothams would add in the winter phase. The remaining 22 rounds of the draft will be conducted in June.

LOOPHOLE ALLOWS SEVERAL PIONEERS TO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Jefferson City, Mo (AP)- Several big time baseball players - at least one of whom earns more than $7,000 a year - are cashing in on Missouri unemployment insurance, but their bosses and the men who wrote the law don't like the idea.

Players of the St Louis Pioneers of the Federal Association and the Kansas City Eagles, resting through the hot stove season, have been officially declared out of work and are drawing weekly checks up to the $15 maximum. The Kansas City team is the Century League affiliate of the Washington Eagles.

Although red tape has prevented official disclosure of the players' identity, the Eagles management had said that six had applied while the in St Louis the Post-Dispatch is reporting that several players including outfielder Hal Sharp along with pitchers Sam Sheppard and Willie Montgomery were collecting the compensation insurance. An interpretation of the State law by E.C. Crow, a member of the Unemployment Compensation Commission, which controls job insurance, made the players eligible for the Missouri checks, even though most of them are paid on a yearly contract basis. They draw their salary only during the regular season and the law provides "an individual shall be deemed totally unemployed in any week during which he performs no services and with respect to which no wages are payable to him."

State Senators Allen McReynolds and George A. Rozier, co-authors of the job insurance law, declared: "We do not hesitate to say that under the law it was never contemplated that men who were drawing handsome salaries on a yearly basis could receive any benefits. The purpose of the law was to assist temporarily men who had lost their jobs until such time as they could obtain re-employment."

"I think it is a downright shame that fellows who average $2,000 a year should get additional compensation in such a method," said Washington Eagles Assistant General Manager Joe Dittrich. "Not only is it shameful, I think it is illegal. We tried to dissuade them from receiving it without success."

"I tried my best to stop them," echoed Pioneers assistant General Manager Charlie Kane. "One of them is receiving a salary from us of between $7,000 and $8,000."

Commission Chairman Andrew J. Murphy Sr. summed up the situation: "It doesn't seem right to me, but under the law there's nothing we can do but give it to them if they qualify."

St Louis outfielder Al Tucker was also previously named as receiving unemployment compensation but said today he had "voluntarily stopped" the practice several months ago. "When I applied," Tucker said, "I thought it might help get me through college. But I when I learned that the public might resent such things I told them to stop my payments. It was about the time those stories appeared about Patterson." (Mickey Patterson of the Cleveland Foresters was denied such insurance several months ago in Ohio.) Tucker is attending Jefferson City University during the off-season in hopes of obtaining his law degree.

QUICK HITS

• The Cincinnati Cannons are said to be seriously considering promoting 1939 number one overall pick Vic Carroll to the big leagues, perhaps as early as the beginning of May. The 20 year has had two velocity bumps in the past six months and with the Cannons staff looking very weak the plan of attack is to get him two or three starts in AAA and if all goes well Carroll will move up to the big leagues before his 21st birthday.
• There were no sophomores on the AIAA first team All-American list last season and just two made the second team. One of them, St Magnus shortstop Tom Landowski, was taken 13th overall by the Brooklyn Kings in last week's draft. The other is Bob Regan, a first baseman from Pierpont who made the first team in 1938 as a freshman and has hit more homers (29) in the past two seasons than any other college player but was not selected until the Regional Round phase of the draft when Boston grabbed the Connecticut native.
• On the high school side all of the draft eligible All-Americans were selected last week. Dick Blaszak and Bill Barnett were both two-time All-American selections and went first and fourth overall. Jimmy J Walker was the other Junior position player to make the list and he was selected 10th by the Philadelphia Sailors. The other three were pitchers with Richie Hughes going to Cleveland with the 14th pick and Joe Lund to the Sailors in the second round leaving just Fulton, Missouri's Hal Hackney as the only All-American not to be selected in the opening two rounds, although St Louis did use it's regional pick (round 3) on Hackney.
• Catcher Lou Bayer of Hatboro (PA) HS and Chillicothe Ohio's Joe Rutherford were each honourable mention All-Americans and both were drafted. Rutherford went to the Chicago Chiefs 7th overall while Bayer stayed close to home as the Philadelphia Keystones called his name in the second round.
• There are always some great nicknames among the kid's in the draft class and this year is no different with Dick "The Polish Hammer" Blaszak, Wally "The Mulberry Mule" Bowens and George "The Walla Walla Winner" Wynn leading the way in that department. Names to look at in future classes include Bert "The Buckeye Bullet" Cupid, Hiram "The Undertaker' Steinberg and Joe "Kitchen Sink" Beane, who is a 15 year old righthander who already has 6 pitches in his arsenal.

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• Finnish ski fighters continue to report great success in trapping Red Army troops unprepared for the subzero wilderness north of Lake Ladoga.
• Reports out of Rome claim mass arrests in the Ukraine following exposure of a 'vast plot' to assassinate Russian leader Josef Stalin. News of 150 arrests by Soviet secret police was leaked by the Italian foreign office.
• For the first time in the war there are reports of German planes attacking a column of French trucks as Germany ramps up it's attacks on ground forces after focusing heavily on stopping shipping traffic.
• The United States has told Japan in no uncertain terms that the US has no interest in negotiating a temporary agreement to replace the US-Japanese commercial treaty which expired this week.
• United Mine Workers Union boss John Lewis declared that should the Democratic National Convention be "coerced or dragooned" into re-nominating President Roosevelt "his candidacy would result in defeat." Lewis has accused the Democratic party of "failing to keep faith with labor."

1940 Preseason Predictions
 

FEBRUARY 24, 1940

A LOOK AHEAD: 1940 PREDICTIONS ISSUE

Once again This Week in Figment Baseball's Jiggs McGee gazes into his crystal ball in an effort to forecast how the upcoming baseball season will play out. A year ago Jiggs successfully called the Pittsburgh Miners pennant win in a tight Federal Association race as the columnist felt if the Miners could stay healthy (which they for the most part did) the additions of Karl Johnson (who went 23-10 in his first year in Pittsburgh) and Pablo Reyes (who hit .307) would be enough to allow them to hold off Chicago and Detroit. Clearly the Dynamos did their part and made it a tight race but Chicago had early troubles and never did recover. The Continental Association, on the other hand, proved much more difficult for Jiggs McGee to decipher as he missed badly in calling for the Brooklyn Kings to extend their dominance of the CA with a record fourth consecutive pennant. That did not happen as the Kings had an epic collapse caused in part by an injury to ace Tom Barrell but also due to an inability to win on the road. The New York Stars, who struggled the last few seasons, emerged as the surprise winner in the CA with Cleveland a close second despite Jiggs calling for them to finish 6th and 5th respectively.

As a reminder here is how Jiggs called the 1939 season at this time a year ago compared to how it ended up.

JIGGS MCGEE'S FEARLESS FORECAST FOR 1940

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION

Let's start with the Continental Association where TWIFB clearly has some work to do in order to atone for just an awful call a year ago. Brooklyn had an epic collapse and the New York Stars a season for the ages last year, but here is what I see happening this time around.

We have been saying for a few seasons that the Chicago Cougars are coming. They moved from 5th two seasons ago to third last year and many in Chicago felt that was a disappointing result and their team, with a few breaks could have easily challenged for the pennant. Well baseball fans, this is the year the Cougars - one of FABL's most successful franchises - books a return to October baseball. We liked their offense and a mix of veterans and youth on the mound a year ago and with one more season of experience for Billy Hunter, Carlos Montes and Pete Papenfus, plus the addition of Leon Drake and Eddie Quinn the Cougars are the team to beat in the CA. There is a lot of pressure on Quinn to perform like he did a year ago in Washington and on Drake to bounce back after a bad season by his standards in Detroit but if they do Chicago may win the pennant by 6-10 games. The youth movement has been talked about for a while at Cougars Park but it is actually the collection of veterans, many of whom were acquired at the price of some of that young talent, that makes Chicago a team to be feared. Freddie Jones and John Lawson should both still have plenty left in the tank while on the mound Jim Lonardo, Milt Fritz and the newly acquired Quinn should be enough to prop up the staff even if 39 year old Dick Lyons starts to show his age.

The Brooklyn Kings are far too talented a team to be the 7th place club they were a year ago. They have made some changes to get younger, especially on the mound with the dispatching of Mike Murphy and Joe Shaffner to Detroit last July, but Art White and Bob Cummings look like capable replacements and it says here that Sergio Vergara will start to live up to the hype this season. For Brooklyn to finish within shouting distance of first place they will need a healthy Tom Barrell but all indications are the 3-time Allen Award winner will be fully healed this season. The other key factor in the Kings pursuit of a crown is outfielder Al Wheeler. Last season was just an awful year for the 32 year old and if anyone has something to prove this season it will be the Brooklyn slugger. There is a load of young talent led by rookies Rats McGonigle and Jim Lightbody and if they can avoid a sophomore slump, along with a return to form from Tom Barrell and Al Wheeler the Kings will be back in the first division with ease.

The pages of this periodical never gave the New York Stars much credit last season and still didn't even after the Stars shocked the sport by winning the World Championship Series. We did say they had a great young offense but their pitching and defense were a worry. As it turned out that was not the case but we just can't see the Stars repeating. The offense will again be good, although one has to question if 26 year old rookie Hub Parks can replace the departed Moxie Pidgeon's bat in left field. You also have to wonder if ageless wonder Dave Trowbridge can replicate the career year he had last season as a 40 year old. The Stars did add Dixie Lee from St Louis to try and improve their pitching but the feeling here is they don't have enough depth behind George Phillips, Vern Hubbard and Billy Riley on the mound. Of course, we said the same thing last year.

The Philadelphia Sailors just always seem to be close, a solid first division club, but not quite good enough to win it all. They did win three straight pennants from 1928-30 and, except for a pair of fifth place finishes in 1931 & 1932 they have been a fixture in the first division including fourth a year ago. They are a solid team, and have not finished below .500 in 7 years but the feeling is they are just a marquee player or two short from making a serious pennant push.

It was a controversial start to the 1939 campaign for the Cleveland Foresters with the sudden retirement of T.R. Goins and a General Manager change but the team surprised most of the experts by staying in contention all year before falling just short of the Stars. We thought the team would finish fourth or fifth as the pitching had us worried. It turns out the arms held up just fine and the bats of Mel Carrol and Dan Fowler carried a pretty solid offense. Can they challenge for the pennant again this season? I am sure they potentially could but they need a lot of things to break right and the feeling is the rest of the CA is improving and may force the Foresters into the second division for the first time since 1931.

If 1938 was a dream season for the Toronto Wolves they certainly paid the price for it with a nightmare performance last year. In this column a year ago we speculated the Wolves were not as good as the 1938 club showed but did not expect them to fall as hard as they did so this year we will say the Wolves are not as bad as they were a year ago. Fred McCormick is a future Hall of Famer but he can't carry the offense on his own. Perhaps Walt Pack builds on the tremendous half season the rookie showed us last year but even that is not enough to give Toronto the runs they need to compete. I like the pitching staff but unless the offense adds a couple of key pieces I just can't see the Wolves in the top half of the CA this season.

That leaves us with Cincinnati and Montreal. Everything is new about the Cannons. A new home in Cincinnati. A new owner. A new GM. A Hall of Fame manager/co-owner in George Theobald. An exciting collection of coaches and even some new players led by much traveled outfielder Moxie Pidgeon and veteran pitcher William Jones. They also have some exciting young draft picks in the system beyond the two they added last month in the draft. It is likely just a matter of time before 1938 first overall pick Vic Carroll makes his debut in the Cincinnati rotation as the pitching staff is full of question marks. If Jones can pitch like he has in the past once he returns from injury in May, and one or two of Deuce Barrell, Rusty Petrick or the previously mentioned Carroll live up to their draft hype the Cannons pitching might just be okay. But that is far too many 'ifs' to see them improve greatly although we are banking on the offense with newly added veterans Pidgeon, Jack Flint and Doc Love, being strong enough to finally ended the Cannons 6 year stay in the Continental Association cellar.

The Saints finished 5th last season for the third time in 4 years (they were 7th in 1938). I like the addition of veteran Ed Baker to help stabilize what was the worst starting rotation in the CA a year ago but the pitching is still subpar. Aside from dependable veteran Vic Crawford the offense is young and the future looks pretty solid for guys like Red Bond, Spud Bent, Bert Lass and Heinie Billings plus Adam Mullins is one of the best catchers in the game. They will be an exciting team to watch but until the pitching catches up to their collection of hitters, and it is coming with 21 year old Wally Doyle leading the way, the Saints will have a tough time.

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1- CHICAGO COUGARS
2- BROOKLYN KINGS
3- NEW YORK STARS
4- PHILADELPHIA SAILORS
5- CLEVELAND FORESTERS
6- TORONTO WOLVES
7- CINCINNATI CANNONS
8- MONTREAL SAINTS

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION

A year ago we liked the Pittsburgh Miners chances of winning their second pennant in three years as long as their key players- in particular Mahlon Strong and the veteran pitchers - stayed healthy. Well, as it turned out health did play a role in deciding the 1939 Fed pennant but it was the Detroit Dynamos young superstar Sal Pestilli who ended up being the key injury. With Pestilli dealing with a wonky shoulder down the stretch his Dynamos stumbled and fell just short for the second year in a row.

The third time will be the charm in Detroit as after two straight second place finishes the Dynamos are finally going to be the bride instead of the bridesmaid. Pestilli will bounce back, both from his injury and subpar batting average of last year, and have a monster year. The offense should easily withstand the loss of Leon Drake and Doc Love with Alf Pestilli, perhaps not quite as productive as last season, but still contributing nicely and the expectation here is that 22 year old Red Johnson follows up a strong second half of his sophomore season with a breakout year that firmly establishes him as one of the best sluggers in the game. The Detroit offense was ice cold to start last season and that ended up hurting them nearly as much as the Sal Pestilli injury. We don't see that happening again as their offense is just too deep. Speaking of deep, the Detroit pitching staff is loaded with at least 7 pitchers who could easily make the rotation of any team in the league.

Pittsburgh will be tough and another relatively healthy season plus a few breaks might just get the Miners another pennant but we just can't see that happening. Already Jack Cleaves is said to be struggling with his recovery from a broken kneecap suffered last September and while the often-injured Mahlon Strong did play 112 games - the most in his 3 seasons with the Miners - past history says he is due to miss substantial time again this year. The pitching is solid but Charlie Steadman will turn 38 during the season and Bill Ketterman is 36 so there are some durability questions on the mound as well. Pittsburgh has proven it has the depth to withstand multiple injuries but Detroit is getting too good for the Miners to survive a lot of trips to the disabled list again this season.

The Chicago Chiefs, like the Brooklyn Kings in the CA, went from the pennant to a terrible season they would like to forget. It was a up and down year for most of the pitching staff and the Chiefs fate in 1940 depends heavily on whether or not Rabbit Day is still the type of pitcher who won 3 Allan Awards. Day will turn 36 in May and lost a little velocity last season so perhaps there are signs that this is the beginning of the end but he has been so good in Chicago the previous two and a half seasons the Chiefs are hoping last year was just a temporary setback. Al Miller has been pretty consistent despite posting the first losing record of his young career last season so there is hope he takes a step forward and perhaps replaces Day as the ace of the staff. We still like the Chicago staff, as long as Day continues to perform, as George Thomas can still be a dependable back half of the rotation arm and perhaps Earle Killebrew find success once he gets away from the Gothams. The Chicago offense, led by three former Montreal Saints in Tom Bird, Hank Barnett and Cliff Moss is perhaps a step below both Detroit and Pittsburgh but still very strong. It says here the Chiefs will rebound and finish third this season but that is on the assumption that Day, while perhaps not an Allan Award candidate any more, will still be a very dependable pitcher.

The Boston Minutemen finished in a very familiar place for the club last season as they were third for the fourth time in the past 8 years. Third has been the high water mark for about as long as most Minutemen fans can remember...you have to go back to the 1915 pennant winning season for a higher finish. We just can't see them breaking that trend this season unless both Pittsburgh and Chicago collapse. A more likely scenario is the Minutemen, as they often do, stay in contention until August before eventually settling for fourth place. A year ago we called on Bob Donoghue to have a breakout season and the Minutemen's 26 year old slugging first baseman did just that. If Mack Sutton and Bill Van Ness can do that this time around, and Donoghue stays healthy, Boston might wrestle third place away from the Chicago Chiefs. We are not expecting both Sutton and Van Ness to do that but TWIFB does feel this might be the year Dick Higgins takes a step forward and becomes a legitimate Allen Award contender. If so, it will be hard to top the Boston rotation especially if former first round pick John Edwards can finally find his way.

One good thing we can say about St Louis is at least the Pioneers have not dealt away a franchise superstar yet this winter. After giving up Fred McCormick and Freddie Jones over successive seasons that is a good thing. Yes, the Pioneers had replacements in the system for the two of them and were not winning with them in the lineup so the move to add pitching made sense. Unfortunately for Pioneers fans, the club has stagnated with 4 straight fourth place finishes. This year we think they may end that trend, but in the wrong direction as it is hard to see them ahead of Boston and Chicago with catching Detroit or Pittsburgh - again barring major injury trouble for the Miners - certainly not in the cards. There is some talent in St Louis but not enough to catch the big four in the Fed. At least they seem to be safe, at least for this season, in fifth place as the bottom three clubs still have a lot of work to do.

A year ago we thought the New York Gothams, with a new stadium and their self-described Million Dollar Infield, would take a step forward. They did not as their rotation was the worst in the Fed. They made a lot of pitching changes over the winter but we are not sure the net result is a positive. Adding Gus Goulding from the Cannons should certainly help but there are questions if it is a net gain with the decision to deal Oscar Morse, Jim Birdwell and waive Earle Killebrew. None had particularly great success as a Gotham last season but until they are ready to bring up some of their pitching prospects the pitching cupboard looks thin in Queens. If Nate Spear can stay healthy the entire season that will be a big help but the 26 year old has missed a lot of time each of the past two seasons. The future for their infield is very bright and their offense should be improved so we will give them the nod over Philadelphia and Washington for sixth place in the Fed.

The Washington Eagles hope that Jim Birdwell and Del Burns, a pair of younger pitchers added over the winter, can more than makeup for the loss of Eddie Quinn, who was being touted as an Allan Award candidate before a late season slump and then an injury. There are some decent pieces but the Eagles, who have not been relevant since 1927, are just entering year two of the latest regime's rebuilding project.

The Philadelphia Keystones finished 6th two years ago, 7th last season and unfortunately the expectation is the downward trend continues. The health issues and rapid decline of Rankin Kellogg hastened the Keystones fall and it escalated without him last year. While there are some good young players in the organization this season looks like it will be struggle for the team. The best Keystones fans can hope for is Hank Koblenz, Billy Woytek and pitchers Jim Whiteley and Lloyd Stevens take another step forward and maybe highly touted prospect Davey Robicheaux makes his big league debut this season. Beyond that there is not a lot to look forward to at Broad Street Park.

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1- DETROIT DYNAMOS
2- PITTSBURGH MINERS
3- CHICAGO CHIEFS
4- BOSTON MINUTEMEN
5- ST LOUIS PIONEERS
6- NEW YORK GOTHAMS
7- WASHINGTON EAGLES
8- PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES


Boston - added 1B Elmer Lockwood
Brooklyn- lost OF Joe Perrett
Chiefs- added pitchers Earle Killebrew and Dick Gentry along with 2B Rabbit Mudd.
Cougars - added pitcher Eddie Quinn and OF Leon Drake. Lost P Cy Sullivan
Cincinnati- added pitchers William Jones and Larry Brown, catchers Jack Flint and Ben Richardson, outfielders Moxie Pidgeon, Doc Love and Joe Perret. Lost P Gus Goulding and C Norm Whitney
Cleveland - None
Detroit- added pitchers Oscar Morse and Cy Sullivan and 1B John Herrick. Lost OFers Leon Drake and Doc Love
Montreal- added pitcher Ed Baker
NY Stars- added P Dixie Lee, lost Pitchers William Jones, Larry Brown and outfielder Moxie Pidgeon
NY Gothams- added pitcher Gus Goulding. Lost pitchers Oscar Morse, Earle Killebrew, Dick Gentry and Jim Birdwell and catcher Jack Flint.
Keystones- added 1B Johnny Waters and OF Hank McKay. Lost pitcher Ed Baker
Sailors- none
Miners - none
St Louis- lost pitcher Dixie Lee
Toronto- added catcher Packy Peck. Lost 1B John Herrick
Washington- added pitcher Jim Birdwell. Lost pitcher Eddie Quinn.

QUICK HITS

• For the first time since 1889 the city of Baltimore will be without a professional baseball team. Of course the cynics among us will say they haven't had pro baseball in half a decade. The Cannons, after six straight last place finishes in the Continental Association, moved to Cincinnati and while there were some rumours Baltimore might get a AAA club that turned out to not be the case.
• Speaking of AAA how tough will it be for Rochester fans to embrace their team being a Cleveland Foresters affiliate? The Rooks, who have been aligned with the Brooklyn Kings the past decade have had a long standing rivalry with Cincinnati for much of the past decade, one that rivaled that between the parent Kings and Foresters. With the Cannons move to the Queen City, the Foresters have relocated their AAA team to Rochester, which became open when Brooklyn transferred their club to Jersey City.
• Rabbit Mudd is the second Rabbit and latest player to leave New York in recent years for the Chicago Chiefs. The 31 year old was cut loose by the Gothams last season and had a brief stop in St Louis before signing with the Chiefs this week. He joins Rabbit Day, Earle Killebrew, Dick Gentry and Ed Reyes in the Windy City. Jim Lonardo also went from the Gothams to the Chiefs but has since moved across Chicago to the Cougars.
• Mixed news on the injury front for Cincinnati. A big positive as the Cannons get word that William Jones is making good progress and should be back to 100% in 6-7 weeks which means he could be ready right around Opening Day, which for the Cannons is in Cleveland on April 16th. However, young centerfielder Bob Griffith has just picked up what is only being described as an undisclosed injury, and will miss much of spring camp.

• The Nazis and Soviets have concluded a new and more extensive trade agreement synchronizing the needs of both sides for supplies.
• Finland admits it has lost a few key positions in it's attempts to hold off invading Red Army troops. Meanwhile, Britain has given formal approval for her citizens to volunteer to fight for Finland against Soviet Russia. Britain has also released large quantities of military supplies to Helsinki.
• A British-French warship squadron has begun a blockade of the northern Russian coast in support of Finland.
• Russia bombed a Swedish town near the Finnish border, prompting official protest from Stockholm and stimulating Swedish 'activists' campaigning for more aide from their country to Finland.
• A Moscow newspaper claims the United States is plotting to prolong the war, for purposes of profit, "to the last drop of English, French and German blood."
• The war between the Allies and Germany continues to be fought primarily over the sea as German warplanes and U-boats continue to prey on shipping traffic in the North Sea and North Atlantic.
• The US and Allies have reached an impasse over censorship of American mail after an American pilot flying mail between the United States and Lisbon was threatened at bayonet point after refusing to surrender mail to British censors.
• Enraged taxpayers in New York stormed the capital in Albany in record numbers protesting Governor Lehman's plans for major tax increases, on top of the hikes the Federal Government is also planning to cover increased defense spending.
• Republicans pick June 24th as the date for their 1940 nominating convention. It is expected the GOP will meet in Chicago.

March 19, 1940 Spring Training set to begin
 

Big league baseball is back in Cincinnati. Well, almost as the Cincinnati Cannons begin their spring camp in Florida today in preparation for their April 16th season opener in Cleveland. The Cannons home opener at newly renovated Monarchs Field will be on April 30th against the Brooklyn Kings. It will mark the first FABL game ever played in the Queen City as Cincinnati lost it's major league team at the conclusion of the 1891 season when the Century and Peerless Leagues along with the Border Association united to create FABL. The Monarchs, Cincinnati's Border Association representative at the time, folded following the death of owner James Tice. Tice's grandson, John E. Tice finally rectified that snub by purchasing the Baltimore Cannons over the winter and moving the club to Cincinnati with the promise that a state of the art new stadium would be constructed.

There will be plenty of construction required on the roster as well because the Cannons have been the laughing stock of baseball most of the past decade with six consecutive last place finishes in the Continental Association. Tice and his co-owner, Hall of Fame manager George Theobald, have made sweeping changes in both the front office and coaching staff plus there have been several moves made already to upgrade the on-field personnel as well. However, if the truth is to be told this will likely be a long season filled with many losing days as the Cannons, while there is some hope with future prospects, are simply not a very good team.

Here is a look at the candidates vying for inclusion on the Opening Day roster:

CATCHER: A pair of veterans new to the organization will battle it out for the starting spot. Jack Flint was acquired from the New York Gothams in the trade that sent pitcher Gus Goulding to the Big Apple. The 31 year old hit .266 for the Gothams last season. Ben Richardson is a 30 year old who was in AAA last year but is a veteran of 281 big league games with 3 teams and is well known to manager George Theobald who had him in the Detroit Dynamos system in the past. Both are a lock to make the team as 26 year old Joe Rainbow, who had spent much of the past 5 seasons with the Cannons will go to AAA or be released.

INFIELD: The Cannons are expected to carry 7 infielders on their final 24 man roster. Ken Mayhugh and Frank Covarrubias are expected to start at first base and third base with a pair of youngsters in Jim Hensley and Charley McCullough as the middle infielders. Mayhugh is a 28 year old who may be better suited to the hot corner than first base but his starting job at either position may be on the line. The 5 year veteran hit just .273 last season and does not have the power the Cannons would like to see from their first baseman. Covarrubias has been a part-time player the past two seasons but his .301 batting average a year ago allowed him to wrestle the third base job and send Mayhugh across the diamond. There is a good chance if either struggles that the Cannons will consider using one of their outfielders at first base. 23 year old Hensley is one of the top young infield prospects in the game after being selected in the first round of the 1934 draft out of high school. He made a brief cameo in Baltimore last September and the shortstop job is expected to be his for the next decade. McCullough is 24 and has spent a little over a year in the big leagues but primarily as a shortstop. With Hensley's arrival McCullough will shift to second base.

There is some pretty good competition for the three backup spots. Veterans Bunny Stapleton, a first baseman, and middle infielder Pete Asher have the inside track on two of them. The final spot will go to Charlie but which one? Charlie Ross, Charlie Willis and Charlie Rivera are the candidates but none is expected to be an impact player. There is a good chance the Cannons may look to the waiver wire for the final infielder instead of relying on one of the Charlies.

OUTFIELD: The outfield actually looks pretty good with newly acquired Moxie Pidgeon leading the way. The 33 year old owns 3 World Championship rings earned with 3 different organizations and was an all-star last season for the fifth time in his career. He will play in left field with 24 year old Fred Galloway, who made the all-star team last season as well, patrolling center. Right field will be a battle between 21 year old Mike T Taylor, who hit .364 with 8 homers in a 51 game trial in Baltimore last season, trying to earn the spot with veterans Doc Love, who was acquired from Detroit, and long-time Cannon Whit Williams also in the mix. All five seem a lock to head north with the club as does Joe Perret, a 37 year old waiver wire pickup from Brooklyn who can play first base as well but his main responsibility will be to pinch-hit, a task he performed very well over the years for the Kings.

PITCHING: With 15 position players that leaves room for 9 pitchers and it is here where the Cannons have a lot of tough decisions to make as they have 18 of them in camp and will probably be watching the waiver wire closely for an upgrade as the start of the season approaches.

The locks(5) - Veteran William Jones will be the Opening Day starter which is a huge bonus to the Cannons. They acquired the 35 year old from the World Champion New York Stars over the winter with the expectation he would be sidelined until at least May with an arm injury suffered last season but Jones made exceptional progress recovering the past couple of months and has been pronounced fit for the start of spring camp. Beyond Jones the rotation is very much up in the air. You have to think that former first round picks Rufus Barrell and Rusty Petrick will claim two of the four remaining starting spots at least to start the season, but Petrick in particular has struggled and he may be given a very short leash. Butch Smith and Glenn Payne spent most of last season in the rotation and have the inside track to start there this year as well.

The bullpen- It is expected veterans Larry Brown and Donie Scheuermann, both acquired over the winter, will claim two spots with former Detroit minor leaguer Eddie Seguin likely getting the third. That leaves a host of pitchers vying for the final opening including the two Rule 5 draft picks in Art Black and Jesse Bowen, veterans Pinky Conlan and Eddie Burgess, and long-time Cannons farm hands Bob Hunter, Art Edwards and Paul Richardson.

Expect the pitching position to be one in constant flux in the early part of the year as, aside from Jones and Barrell, the Cannons do not have a lot of confidence in the present makeup of their staff. One other player that could play a big role in the second half of the season is last year's first overall draft pick Vic Carroll. Just 21 years old the former Richmond State star could have been on the Opening Day roster had he enjoyed a little more success in the minors last summer. Carroll struggled in three starts at the AA level so the Cannons want to see him gain a bit more experience before they promote him to the major leagues.

OUTLOOK- Cincinnati baseball fans are used to some pretty good seasons over the years from the AAA Steamers although last year was not one of them after a 64-76 season resulted in a 7th place finish. The Steamers are gone but Cincinnati's new team will be hard pressed to top the 7th place showing from the Steamers last year. Expect a lot of losses from a team that has more of them over the last decade than 14 of the other 15 big league clubs and has finished last 6 years in a row. Early predictions from BNN point towards a 7th straight last place showing for the Cannons while This Week in Figment Baseball's Jiggs McGee sees a slight improvement - tabbing the Cannons to finish 7th ahead of only Montreal either. Either way big league baseball is back in Cincinnati and there is a real buzz in the city. The question is How long will the honeymoon with the Cannons last if the club is as bad as most expect them to be?

March 1940 - Spring Training Begins
 

MARCH 26, 1940

A NEW DECADE AWAITS AS SPRING GAMES BEGIN

The 1940's are officially underway with the first games of spring training having finally been played following what felt like an eternity for many in FABL circles. While in film Hollywood of the 1930's might have garnered the nickname "The Golden Age" in FABL that moniker clearly belonged to the Big Apple, as the decade was ushered in by 4 New York Gothams pennants in the first five years and closed out by 3 Continental crowns for the Brooklyn Kings before being upstaged by the New York Stars last season.

Led by five consecutive seasons of at least 90 victories, it was the Kings that were the winningest team in the 1930's although only the Gothams, despite their awful finish to the decade ended up being the only club to win 4 pennants in 1930s. World Championship Series titles were well spaced out with only the Chicago Chiefs and New York Stars winning a pair of them while single crowns went to Brooklyn, Cleveland, Philadelphia and the Chicago Cougars in the Continental Association with the Gothams and the Philadelphia Keystones also claiming one each for the Fed contingent.

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Toronto Wolves and Baltimore (now Cincinnati) Cannons who ended up being the two worst teams in the big leagues the past decade with the Washington Eagles not far ahead of the pair. There is great excitement for many teams, including the Wolves, as the new decade gets underway for real next month but while we wait here is a final look back at how each club performed in the 1930s.

16 THINGS TO HOPE FOR 1940

BY JIGGS MCGEE

I have previously announced my predictions for the 1940 season to end with the Detroit Dynamos and Chicago Cougars flying the pennants in their respective associations but as camps kick into full gear I thought I would take a quick trip around FABL and outline something the fans of each of the 16 clubs would love to see from their hardball heroes.

BOSTON MINUTEMEN- Obviously at the forefront of the minds of any Minutemen fan worth his salt is an end to the pennant drought that stretches back to 1915, but it would be too easy to say that a pennant is the 'hope' of Minutemen fans, as that would apply to fans of every FABL club. Boston has a habit of tantalizing it's fan base with a great start to the season only to fade down the stretch but even staying in contention until August this season may prove difficult as both Detroit and Pittsburgh are loaded. Still for the long-suffering Minutemen fan another power bat would be a huge addition. Perhaps it comes internally as either Mack Sutton or Bill Van Ness have a breakout year, much as Bob Donoghue enjoyed a season ago. More likely the breakout player in Boston this time around will be Dick Higgins and if the Minutemen make a long run this season it would likely be because they added a big-time slugger through the trade market.

BROOKLYN KINGS- A healthy Tom Barrell and a return to form by Al Wheeler are the keys to the Kings regaining control of the Continental. Since winning 3 straight Allen Awards ending in 1936, Barrell has had three subpar seasons with two of them being interrupted by injury. It is very important for Barrell to have a big year in order for the Kings to rebound from their implosion of last season. However, even if Barrell is at the top of his game any Brooklyn pennant hopes will also require Al Wheeler to shake off whatever demons took over his bat last season. If he doesn't rebound it could be a long season for the formerly powerful purple squad.

CHICAGO CHIEFS - Perhaps just being an even year is enough to bring the Chiefs back to the top. They won it all in 1936 and 1938 as they alternated pennant wins with Pittsburgh over the past four years. I don't believe 1940 will have the same effect on the Chiefs buy nothing would make fans (or management) at Whitney Park happier than to see Rabbit Day bounce back. Over the past decade the now 35 year old Day has been without question the best pitcher in the game but he plummeted off the pedestal last season and has some wondering if this is the beginning of the end. Outside of perhaps his rookie year way back in 1927, last season was the worst of Day's career and he will turn 36 in May. Day is 51 victories shy of becoming the first pitcher to reach the 300 win plateau since recent Hall of Fame inductee Big George Johnson accomplished that feat in 1925 and it sure would be nice to see Day get back on track and get there as well.

CHICAGO COUGARS- The Cougars do not need much to win their first pennant since 1933 and the current 6 year drought is getting to be very long by Chicago standards as the club has never gone more than 9 seasons without a Continental Association pennant. They have a solid offense and a great mix of veterans and youth on the mound so you could certainly wish for good health, but I am saving that particular request for the Miners fans. Perhaps a breakout year from a youngster like Pete Papenfus, Carlos Montes or Billy Hunter might be the perfect hope but instead for the Cougars to reach their full potential let's hope for big seasons out of newcomers Leon Drake and Eddie Quinn. Drake had a down year in Detroit last season but seems poised for a big rebound in the Windy City. Quinn is the one I worry about. Yes, the Caveman finally broke out last season for Washington after a pair of terrible seasons with the Eagles, winning 20 games for the first time in his career in the process. I can't help but worry he is just a one year wonder although the nice thing in Chicago is he did not cost the Cougars a lot and if someone like Papenfus finally puts it altogether they could easily win without Quinn contributing much at all.

CINCINNATI CANNONS - Cincinnati stole Baltimore's team, or perhaps simply rid the city of an ongoing nightmare. Either way this is the honeymoon phase for the Cannons and the Queen City so little is expected from the club. And with good reason as this team is still very bad. New Cannons ownership made plenty of noise over the winter and had some splashy big name pickups - unfortunately most were staff members rather than players although veterans Moxie Pidgeon and William Jones will certainly help. Best the Cannons fans can hope for is for their team not to finish last for the seventh straight year.

CLEVELAND FORESTERS - The Foresters surprised me last season as they were perhaps just a George Dawson injury away from winning the pennant. A year ago maybe my preseason prediction column gave the Foresters motivation by citing a concern with their pitching staff and team age as a reason they would fall into the second division. If that is what motivated the Foresters to make their run last season then you are welcome Cleveland fans as once more I am calling for the Foresters to finish fifth. If that isn't enough for fans of the Trees, how about the hope your club adds another arm. I worry about Lou Martino being able to duplicate what he did last season and while Dean Astle, Dave Rankin and Ben Turner are not a bad trio, another quality starting pitcher would go a long ways towards keeping Cleveland in the first division, something they have been a part of every year since 1931.

DETROIT DYNAMOS - What do you get the team that seemingly has everything? Detroit already has more pitching than they could possibly need and loads of offense so the only thing the Dynamos lacked in the past was the ability to put it together for a full season. Look for Sal Pestilli to be on a mission and Red Johnson to be a big time factor as well and if that happens, with the pitching depth they have, there is no way the Dynamos should finish second for the third year in a row.

MONTREAL SAINTS - Saints fans are among the best in baseball but are just dying to support a winner. 1921 was the last time Montreal won a pennant and their most recent season with at least a .500 record was a decade ago. They drew a club record of nearly 1.3 million fans when they finished just 2 games out in 1930 and averaged well over 750k throughout the 1930's, which were a pretty bleak decade for the team. Last year they showed a little promise and topped the one million attendance mark for just the fourth time in franchise history - and that was for a team that finished 12 games out. Parc Cartier would be hopping if they ever could contend. Unfortunately that won't be this season as there are too many holes, particularly on the mound. But there is also a lot of good young talent, both in Montreal already and on the way up the minor league chain. A full season of big league baseball filled with some pretty good success for 21 year old Wally Doyle would be the best thing Saints fans could hope for this year. Despite his youth, Doyle has already spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues and completely dominated AAA hitters a year ago.

NEW YORK STARS - Best thing that could happen to the Stars this season is for no one to let Dave Trowbridge know he is almost 42 years old. He had arguably the greatest season of his career last year and capped it off with an amazing World Championship Series. The Stars return much of the same squad that shocked FABL last season with an incredible run that did not end until after the victory parade down Riverside Drive had concluded. The one exception is Moxie Pidgeon and his 21 homers flew the coop to Cincinnati, leaving the Stars to hope that 26 year old rookie Hub Parks and his 14 career games of big league experience are ready to take over for Pidgeon in leftfield.

NEW YORK GOTHAMS - Even a state of the art new ballpark could not get the struggling Gothams back on track as they suffered through a third straight season with 90+ losses. The offense looks like it is coming along nicely but pitching has been a nightmare in New York ever since they dealt away Rabbit Day. A healthy Nate Spear - who has been outstanding when he is not hurt - is a must for the Gothams to show some signs of life and a big season out of Gus Goulding, who perhaps can finally live up to his promise now that he is out of another wasteland for pitchers in the Cannons organization. Even if the two of them can have big years the Gothams still need to somehow find two or three more pitchers they can count on.

PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES - All Keystones fans can do is be patient. Wait for the next crop to develop. Keystones fans once were a very patient lot - they waited until 1927 for the club's very first WCS appearance (although they did win the Fed in 1892 which was the first season of the league and the only one that did not include a World Championship Series between the pennant winners). Three pennants and a pair of WCS wins over a seven year stretch led by Hall of Famer Rankin Kellogg and a young Bobby Barrell may have spoiled the Keystones faithful and it came crashing down suddenly a few years ago. The cause of much of the recent failure really could not be forecast as the health crisis Kellogg faced led to his rapid decline as a player and ultimately ended his career. Most of the stars of the Keystones glory days are long gone but fans should still support Carl Ames, Bobby Barrell - perhaps a future Hall of Famer - and Grover Lee, a 34 year old who is back in Philadelphia after a couple of seasons away. Those three will be tasked with helping the next generation of Keystones like Hank Koblenz, Billy Woytek and Jim Whitely continue on their big league journey. 1940 will be another long season but old-timers among Keystone fans are well acquainted with long seasons. Philadelphia used to hold the record for futility (no longer thanks to Baltimore) with 5 straight last place finishes beginning in 1920. Those bad years laid the groundwork for future titles. Hopefully this stretch does the same.

PHILADELPHIA SAILORS - Like the cross-town Keystones, the Sailors had a long stretch of futility in the early days of FABL before breaking out with three straight pennants beginning in 1928. Even before then the club has been very successful, with only two finishes in the second division in the past 16 years. They dipped to fourth last season but were just 6 games back in a tight Continental Association race. The Sailors are a good team, a good organization, but what they really lack especially since trading Jack Cleaves to Pittsburgh, is a marquee player. I am not sure if just one big name player, either a dominant pitcher or a top hitter, would be enough to lift the Sailors to the pennant in 1940 but it would go a long ways to help them step up from being a good team to perhaps being a great one. Right now they are good in that I could easily see another first division finish, but I really do not see any hope for a title without additional talent being added.

PITTSBURGH MINERS - Miners fans long for just one thing - success in October. No team is more snake bitten in the Fall than the Pittsburgh ballclub, which after losses to Brooklyn in 1937 and being swept by the New York Stars last season have now lost 7 of the 8 World Championship Series they have participated in. Of course for that wish to come true the club needs to get back to the WCS and while the Miners have the talent to do so, odds are that the injuries they avoided for the most part last season, will return this time around. So the regular season wish for Pittsburgh fans has to be good health, especially from Mahlon Strong, who in 233 games with the Miners is batting .330 with 38 homers and 199 rbi's. Unfortunately, Strong has missed 229 games over the past three years.

ST LOUIS PIONEERS - Only Boston has gone longer without a Federal Association pennant than the Pioneers, who last won one in 1921. The St Louis ballclub always seems to be good, but never great. They have finished fourth in the Fed each of the past 4 seasons and five of the last 7. The other two years they finished second with teams led by Fred McCormick and Freddie Jones. Those two could not get the club over the hump, heck even the great Max Morris couldn't do that after leading them two titles in his first two seasons with the club, so the Pioneers moved on from them and while McCormick has found new life in Toronto the Pioneers continue to be a decent, middle of the road ballclub. They tried to make pitching be their focus and had some success with that but injuries to ace David Abalo and the complete collapse of Sam Sheppard derailed that plan. The best thing the Pioneers could hope for is a return to Allan Award winning form by Sheppard but that is likely far too much to ask so I expect they would settle for a full healthy season out of Abalo and the continued development of 25 year old ace in the making Buddy Long.

TORONTO WOLVES - Toronto is desperate for some offensive support to aide Fred McCormick, who put up one of the best seasons in FABL history a year ago despite having very little help and as a result it was wasted on a 6th place finish. I would also say that McCormick's immense talent is wasted at Dominion Stadium, where the empty seats generally far out number paying customers. The club set a record two years ago during that near miracle run of 1938 but even then it was still just 860,000 and that number dropped substantially in the second half of last season as it became clear the Wolves were back in their traditional stomping grounds of the second division. Toronto's pitching staff was outstanding a year ago and should be sound again this year, but until the Wolves find some bats to complement McCormick it will be tough for them to make much progress. Perhaps the answers can be found internally such as promising infielder Walt Pack but I think it is a better bet that until Toronto lands another top hitter or two from outside the organization the pennant, something they last won in 1911, will remain nothing but a distant dream.

WASHINGTON EAGLES - The Eagles in recent years had picked up a reputation as career-killers for pitchers. That changed perhaps last season when Eddie Quinn and Jack Elder had career years. Now we have read that story before as Bill Anderson and Karl Johnson, to give you two examples, had big years in the nation's capital only to collapse the following season. If Quinn collapses it won't be the Eagles concern as they shipped the 33 year old to the Cougars over the winter. But all eyes in Washington will be squarely on Elder to prove that the first 20 win season of his career was not a fluke. Washington was a very good ballclub for a long stretch from around 1910 until 1925 but the thirties were not kind to Eagles fans as the club had the worst record out of any Federal Association team the past decade. It has endured several front office changes with the latest crew taking over just prior to last season. Stability in the front office might be the best thing for Eagles fans to wish for as perhaps the current crew can did the team out of a more than decade long hole it has been buried in.

BNN MAKES IT'S EARLY PREDICTIONS

Last week TWIFB called the Detroit Dynamos and Chicago Cougars as the pennant winners for 1940. BNN has weighed in with it's annual March predictions and the league news service sees a rematch of the 1939 WCS with the Pittsburgh Miners and New York Stars prevailing. Note this is a very early forecast from BNN and they will update their predictions just prior to Opening Day once they have had a chance to observe the spring action.
Some interesting notes from the BNN call is they expect Mahlon Strong to play 153 games for the Pittsburgh Miners despite the fact the talented but often injured outfielder has never played more than 112 contests in any of his three seasons in Pittsburgh. They are calling for Strong to win the Federal Association batting title while hitting 29 homers and driving in 126 runs, although they do feel the dynamic Detroit duo of Sal Pestilli (.313,38,146) and Red Johnson (.310,32,111) will both out-homer Strong. Even more astounding is the service's call for a 47 homer season from Boston slugger Bob Donoghue.

Turning to the Continental Association BNN says age means nothing to Dave Trowbridge, expecting the 42 year old to lead the CA in batting average. The biggest surprise might the omission of Toronto's Fred McCormick entirely from the list of top hitters. Even though BNN feels the Wolves can finish second they also failed to mention Toronto ace Joe Hancock among the top pitchers.

QUICK HITS

• The Chicago Chiefs have to be very happy with their 6-0 opening week of Grapefruit League play as they hope to rebound from a terrible start to last season. While the wins are nice, even in spring action, the Chiefs were likely hoping for a little more out of Rabbit Day in his debut. It is obviously very early but Day has more to prove this season than perhaps any other player in the Federal Association after his down year - at least by his standards - last season. Day went 4 innings against St Louis in his spring debut but surrendered 8 hits and allowed 3 earned runs. Far to early to push the panic button but you have to think Chicago skipper Joe Ward would have traded the unbeaten week for a 4-2 showing if it came with a dominant performance from Day.
• The New York Gothams had the worst opening week in either association, winning just once in six outings and watching both Nate Spear and newly acquired Gus Goulding get lit up pretty badly. The only thing to save the week for Gothams brass is their three hottest players last week were 3/4 of the Million Dollar infield in Walt Messer, Mule Monier and Roosevelt Brewer.
• 2-4 in Detroit with a lot of experimenting going on which was part of the Dynamos plan. The one thing that the club says it will look to see improvement in is their .182 spring batting average among the position players. That is not acceptable and is reminiscent of the sluggish bats we had last spring and early season. Detroit is also concerned with a pair of week 1 spring training injuries to P Frank Gordon (2 weeks back tightness) and more importantly P Charlie Wheeler who missed the last half of last season with a labrum injury, now has a strained rotator cuff in his first outing. That is definitely not good for a young (25) pitcher who has been a highly ranked and performed very well since arriving to Detroit. He looked good in his outing out of the bullpen going 3 scoreless innings against the Miners. He will miss the rest of spring training and will likely get a rehab start or two in Newark before coming back to Detroit.
• Looks like Doug Lightbody and his brother Frank are both on the trade block in Brooklyn. Makes sense as there really is no where to play the two of them but it will be a sad day if (when) Doug Lightbody leaves Brooklyn, especially if it is before he records his 2,000th career hit. Lightbody has missed a lot of time with injuries, which certainly is reflected in his career numbers but an argument can easily be made that he is the greatest King player of all time.
• Washington goes 4-2, partially because Jack Elder didn't allow an earned run, and partially because Harry Shumate had an OPS of 1.122. Regardless, this next week probably won't go as well, it'll be young gun week, so the outfield will be some combination of Robison, Hall, and either Hanshaw or Miller if he hit decent/actually steals efficiently.

• Hitler and Mussolini meet with extension of the Rome-Berlin axis to Moscow and possible eventual participation of Italy in the European war on Germany's side were the main topics of discussion.
• Paris is reporting the French successfully turned back a German attack with the largest number of men the Nazis have put into action since the war started.
• Prime Minister Chamberlain defiantly declared before the British House of Commons that the Allied powers are ready to meet any challenge by Hitler and will refuse to be diverted from their primary war aim of crushing Nazi aggression.
• For the first time a British submarine sank a German merchant ship. It occurred in the Baltic Sea and aroused speculation on a drive against shipment of Scandinavian iron ore to the Reich. The act prompted Germany to further step up it's attacks on ships bound for Britain.
• An aide to President Roosevelt says any hope for peace in Europe "appears to be very empty."
• The Queen Mary left the New York Harbor this week for an unrevealed destination but almost certainly to be used as troop transport for the allies.

April 1940 - Spring Training
 

APRIL 1, 1940

CANNONS LEAD WAY IN CA AS SPRING ACTION CONTINUES

It is only spring training but certainly still an unusual position for the Cincinnati Cannons as the transplanted franchise finds itself atop the Continental Association after two weeks worth of spring games. The Cannons, who moved from Baltimore over the winter, have spent the last six seasons firmly entrenched in the basement of the CA. The Federal Association's Chicago Chiefs and Philadelphia Keystones share top spot overall with the Cannons as all three teams are 8-4 as the Grapefruit League reaches it's midway point.

FIVE ROOKIE PITCHERS TO WATCH

There are a number of highly touted pitchers who one might expect to make their big league debuts, if not in April, at least sometime during the season. Here is a brief look at a few of the names high on the OSA top prospects list you should familiarize yourself with. Note- This list is strictly of pitchers who have yet to pitch in a regular season FABL game.

VIC CARROLL- CINCINNATI #2 on OSA top prospects list: The Cannons have already announced that the 21 year old will begin the season in Indianapolis but expect he will be with the big club by mid-season if all goes well. Carroll was the first overall selection in the 1939 draft out of Richmond State, for whom he was a first team All-American selection as a freshman. The New York City native joined the Cannons organization in June and went 3-4 with a 5.60 era in A ball before a late season promotion to AA. He struggled in 3 starts at that level otherwise he likely would have been on the Cannons spring training roster but the club feels a stint in AAA is best for his confidence and development.

BILL WELLMAN - BROOKLYN #15 on OSA top prospects list: The Kings have a solid collection of young arms in Brooklyn already and the 23 year old Strub College alumni may be poised to join them. A second team AIAA All-American his sophomore season, Wellman was a 4th round pick of Detroit in 1937 - one of the years with the free agent phase for the top 3 rounds of the mock draft) Willman was dealt to Brooklyn last summer in the deal that reunited Alf Pestilli with his brother Sal in the Motor City. He struggled at AAA last season, positing a 9-13 record in 30 starts between Newark and Rochester but earned an invite to the Kings big league camp this season. He had a rough spring debut and might be a bit of a long shot to get a call up this season unless the Kings run into injury problems on the mound.

DUKE HENDRICKS - BOSTON #18 on OSA top prospect list: Another former AIAA All-American as Hendricks was a second team selection as a junior at Baton Rogue State in 1937. The New Jersey native was signed as part of the initial free agent crop of 1937 and made his minor league debut at AA that year. He has spent the last two seasons in AAA including a solid 13-6, 4.25 campaign last year. OSA feels he can easily front a big league rotation and he had a pretty impressive 5 inning spring debut against Philadelphia in the opening week and followed it up with just as impressive a performance a few days ago also against the Keystones. If he continues to pitch well I see no reason the 24 year old will not crack the Minutemen's opening day 24-man roster.

JIM DOUGLASS - WASHINGTON #30 on OSA top prospect list: Just like the three players listed above him Douglass is a former AIAA All-American, earning first team status as a junior in 1938 following a sparkling 9-4, 2.82 season in his final year at Eastern State. Like Hendricks, Douglass is a New Jersey native and he was a third round selection of the New York Stars in 1938 but was dealt to Washington last winter in the move that brought Moxie Pidgeon to the Big Apple. He spent last season at AAA Kansas City but struggled thru a 9-17, 7.10 campaign so the Eagles opted not to bring him to the big league camp this season. His eta in the big leagues might not be until next season but a strong start in Kansas City might just force Washington to call him up this year.

RAY DALPMAN - BOSTON #32 on OSA top prospects list: The lone high school draftee on this list as Dalpman was selected in the 7th round by Detroit in the 1935 draft and was moved to Boston following the 1938 season in exchange for big league catcher John Wicklund. He was added to the Minutemen's 40 man roster just prior to the December rule 5 draft but with all his options left Dalpman might begin the season in AAA. However, if he pitches like he did at that level last season (12-3, 2.71) it won't be long before he is standing on the mound at Cunningham Field. Just 23 years of age he has really picked up his game over the past couple of seasons and is projected to be a solid #2 starter. If Dalpman and the previously mentioned Duke Hendricks are both ready for the big leagues the Minutemen pitching staff will certainly be one to fear as the two could slot in very nicely alongside Dick Higgins, Art Myers and Ed Wood.

Other pitchers in the OSA top 100 to keep an eye out for their big league debuts include Danny Hearn of St Louis, the Keystones Bud Canfield, Toronto's two-way player Juan Pomales and possibly the Gothams Tom Henderson.

QUICK HITS

• After reading the latest installment in "The Ballad of the Barrell Brothers" which is a must-read for any FABL fan, several scouts were overheard talking in the stands at a recent game about the big Tom and Fred Barrell trade from the Cougars to Brooklyn in 1932 in exchange for Tommy Wilcox and Mike Taylor. Speculation then led to just what trade might be considered the 'biggest' deal in FABL history. Certainly in the early days it was the Max Morris from Cleveland to St Louis but for the modern era it was agreed that another Morris deal had to top all trades. That one came in 1930 when Morris was moved from the Pioneers to the Gothams for five prospects including future 2-time Whitney Award (and maybe more to come) Fred McCormick. While acknowledging that McCormick was still an unproven prospect at the time of the deal, OSA scouting boss Dan Barrell offered this observation. "Given that Morris IS a Hall of Famer and I would be surprised if McCormick does not eventually join him in the Hall, my vote would go for that deal. The Kings-Cougars trade was a really big one, but Wilcox's unfortunate injury problems have hurt that one in the long-term."
• Still hard to believe how badly scouts fared in the 1927 draft. That was the one in which McCormick slid to the 11th round and he wasn't the only quality player to go late that draft. Joe Watson did not get picked until the 11th round and Ron Rattigan, Leon Drake and Clarence Howerton were all 14th rounders that same draft. Then you also had Milt Fritz taken in the 12th round with fellow hurlers Pinky Conlan and Red Hampton going in the 14th.
• A 4-2 week and some decent pitching performances have things looking brighter for the New York Gothams. Nate Spears is still trying to knock the rust off but at least the Gothams anticipated ace is healthy right now. Meanwhile newcomer Gus Goulding rebounded from a rough outing last week with 4 innings of shutout ball in a win over Philadelphia and 24 year old Bunny Edwards has had a pair of very solid performances.
• The Gothams young infielders are hitting. The pitching has been ok in spots. The OF is a collection of players trying to determine who sticks. But the big question is behind the plate. Pete Casstevens (just 3-for-24) hasn't been hitting and the team will need to decide if he would be best served by starting the season in Toledo. The temptation is to let him start in New York hitting low in the lineup with little pressure. His destination will surely be one of the last decisions this spring as the team wants to give him every opportunity to join their young core with the big club
• Cannons fever running high in Cincinnati with word their new team recently won 6 straight games and is 8-4 overall. Management is a little more tepid in its assessment realizing spring games mean little in the big picture but Hall of Fame pitching coach Big George Johnson is pleasantly surprised with what a number of his charges have done through the first two weeks.
• The Cincinnati Cannons quickly moved to get the number of pitchers in camp down to a much more manageable 13 as they send 5 down to AAA Indianapolis including 4 pitchers who each spent at least part of the season in the big leagues with Baltimore last season: Bob Hunter, Lou Barker, Paul Richardson and Art Edwards. The makeover continues as the Cannons also sent 25 year old second sacker Charlie Ross, who hit just .237 in 94 games with Baltimore last year down to AAA.
• The Cannons had a 6 game winning streak snapped on Saturday when they were pounded 9-1 by the Montreal Saints. Jesse Bowen, a rule five pickup from the Philadelphia Sailors trying to make the Cannons roster, had a rough day as the 23 year old was beaten up pretty badly in the first inning in allowing the Saints to plate five runs.
• Montreal is also off to a nice start in spring play but Saints brass has some tough decisions to make and warn some surprises are coming. Montreal has been very impressed with Bill Greene as the 23 year old is keeping the battle for the starting center fielder job wide open as he chases Heinie Billings and Dilly Ward. Ward in particular is struggling after 2 weeks as is young pitcher Wally Doyle. Doyle was dominant at AAA last season, but has struggled in the big leagues both times he was briefly promoted. He is just 21 so there is plenty of time but has not looked overly impressive in two spring starts so he may be bound for Minneapolis once again.
• Speaking of struggling, the Stars tabbed Hub Parks to replace the traded Moxie Pidgeon in the New York outfield but the 26 year old Parks, who is ranked the 29th overall prospect, is hitting just .205 with no extra base hits in 44 spring plate appearances. On the positive side for the Stars is Ed Frazier as the 1931 round 25 397th overall pick is killing it this spring and is making a case to be in the Stars bullpen this season. He was crushing it in AAA last year and it looks like its carried over to this season as well. With an already crowded pitching staff in NY, can he force his way in?
• A 3-3 week in Detroit but a 3rd injury in the spring this time to potentially platoon starting RF Sid Williams. While it is only a 3 week injury it does mean that Detroit will be opening the season with another player that will not be back in time. Maybe the extra batting practice that manager Pat Lictenegger ordered after last weeks dismal performance helps. The offense showed a little more life this week with 37 runs in 6 games. Still not seeing much from Sal Pestilli so he is going to start playing everyday and spend a lot more time in the batting cage with hitting coach Jim Webb as he is too important to the Dynamos offense to come out of the gates struggling.
• New Detroit pitcher Oscar Morse has come out and done what management figured he would do. He looked lights out in his first outing and then in his 2nd outing had a terrible first inning giving up 4 runs. He straightened it out after that now carries a spring ERA of 4.50. Likely will be the story of his season where he provides insurance in some starts and will be hit or miss with a mid-4 ERA.
• There was some talk in the off-season about the Dynamos looking to upgrading their backup catcher position. Perhaps Clem Bliss took notice as he is trying to send a message to the Detroit management that there is no one better for the job than him. So far this spring he is hitting .312 and he blasted his 2nd home run in two weeks. Bliss is a switch hitter which aids his chances as Detroit hasn't had very good luck looking for that elusive left handed swinging catcher over the years.

• Following the discovery of documents in the Polish Foreign Office, the Nazi press blasts the United States following what it calls the "sensational discovery" of alleged Polish documents that proved US officials had helped instigate Allied plans "to finish national Socialist Germany through war."
• British warships continue to scour Germany's North Sea shipping lanes in an effort to strangle Nazi trade with Scandinavia while suspicion mounted that the Reich might be engineering a grab of Rumania's oil.
• The small islands (diagram below) of Helgoland and Sylt in the North Sea are the spearheads of German aerial menace to British shipping, and at the same time the outposts of German defenses against British bombers.
  https://i.imgur.com/uKLecsE.jpg
• A complete break in diplomatic relations between Soviet Russia and France appears imminent after Paris charged that France and her war ally, Great Britain, were 'insulted' following the interception of a message from the Russian Ambassador to Paris bound for Joseph Stalin congratulating him on the peace treaty with Finland as a stroke against "British-French warmongers."
• The Allied Supreme War Council agreed that Britain and France would stand firmly together until "with the assistance of other nations," a new International order insures peace in Europe after the War with Germany is concluded. The Council hopes that the United States will play a key role in the reconstruction of "an international order which will ensure liberty of peoples, respect for law and maintenance of peace."
• A state of siege was proclaimed in Bolivia as the government mustered all available military resources to cope with a revolt among dissident factions of the South American country's army.
• Electrical engineers worked feverishly to nullify the effects of the wave-like electrical phenomena which disrupted all wire and radio communications early in the week. Scientists had to admit they do not whether there would be a recurrence of the 'sun tornado' which was considered much more disruptive than any previous sun spots ever were.

April 1940 - Spring Training
 

APRIL 8, 1940

STAR CROSSED?

The New York Stars were the biggest surprise of last season with their miracle run to a World Championship Series title. The Stars are also the surprise team of spring but for all the wrong reasons as, at 6-13, they currently sit last overall in Grapefruit play. Not that wins recorded in Florida usually are any indication of regular season success as just last year the Washington Eagles, Toronto Wolves and Brooklyn Kings had the top three spring records and none of the three finished within shouting distance of the first division once the games started to count. Still there is something to be said for a positive spring leading to regular season success - just ask the reigning Federal Association pennant winning Pittsburgh Miners, who finished tied for second in the Federal Association spring standings a year ago and used that to propel them off to a fantastic start to the regular season.

The Stars were a middling 12-12 last spring and that clearly did not impact their October victory parade in any way whatsoever but winning just 6 of their 19 tune-up games doesn't necessarily sit well with New York management.

"We are a bit concerned with the lack of performance from some players," admitted Stars manager Otto Schmidt on Saturday after the club had suffered it's seventh consecutive defeat. "We understand we may be on a bit of a championship hangover from last year, but overall the team looks good. There was a lot of experimentation with some new pitchers that wont make the cut, and most of our poor outings were caused by their lack of experience. And in the end, spring is for stretching our legs and spreading our wings. Win or lose we just need to see progress. The coaching staff is working hard to get the pony out of the stable and hope to be fired up coming out of the starting gate."

The Stars did snap the losing skid yesterday with a 5-1 win over Montreal thanks to a very strong outing from Vern Hubbard, who won 15 games for New York a year ago. Reliever Ben Watkins, a 30 year old waiver wire pickup, continued his strong camp with 5 solid innings in relief. The Stars still have a week left to iron out some of the wrinkles and the expectation is they will look closer to the squad that will start the season over the next few days.

FIVE ROOKIE HITTERS TO WATCH

Last week we profiled five highly touted pitching prospects who seem to be on the verge of making their FABL debuts. This week let's take a look at a few of the position players ranked very high on the OSA prospects list that appear poised to play their first FABL game. Note- This list is strictly of players who have yet to appear in a regular season FABL game so September call-ups from last year are not eligible.

PETE CASSTEVENS Catcher New York Gothams (#4 on OSA top prospects list): If you asked any scout a month ago they likely would have told you that Casstevens will not only begin the season with the Gothams but will likely play 130 games. That was partially out of respect for the skills that the son of former big leaguer Clint Casstevens possesses and partly out of necessity after the Gothams dealt away starting catcher Jack Flint over the winter which left them with Joe Green as the only catcher on their 40-man roster with any big league experience. The job appeared to be Casstevens for the taking despite the fact he only has 45 games of experience and just turned 21 last month, and it still might be, but a slow spring start in which the youngster is batting just .146 through three weeks of play might be causing the Gothams to start pouring over the waiver wire in search of a short-term replacement should Casstevens prove not yet to be ready to join the young talent in the Gothams Million Dollar infield.

Casstevens was a bonus baby when he joined the Detroit Dynamos straight out of Syracuse High School, where he was a 3-time High School All-American selection, as part of the short-lived rookie free agent phase back in 1937. He peaked at #5 on the OSA prospect list that summer before the Gothams sent promising pitcher Charlie Wheeler and veteran infielder Erv Smith to Detroit in exchange for the catching phenom prior to the 1938 season. Casstevens would split the '38 campaign between 3 levels of the minors peaking at Class A where he hit .340 in 44 games. Last year he began the season at A but after two weeks it was clear he was ready for a greater challenge and was promoted to AA Jersey City. He showed well enough at that level to earn a late season call up to AAA Toledo for whom he struggled somewhat, batting just .221 with 2 homers in 45 games but it is important to remember he was just 20 years old. It might be too much for the Gothams to ask Casstevens to step in to a full-time job guiding a pitching staff that was the worst in the Federal Association a year ago so a veteran option might still be in the cards but if Casstevens does not crack the opening day roster you have to expect he will be in New York before the all-star game.

DAVEY ROBICHEAUX Third base Philadelphia Keystones (#6 on OSA top prospects list): It has been a quick rise for the 22 year old Robicheaux as after playing just one season of college ball - where he was a first team AIAA All-American selection at Bay State, the slugging third baseman was drafted 6th overall by the Keystones. He immediately adapted to the pro game as one of his early minor league contests was a 5 hit game for New Orleans in the AA Dixie League. He played 62 games for the Showboats and hit .360 with 9 homeruns, numbers more than good enough to earn him an invite to the Keystones main camp this spring. He has appeared in just 9 spring games so far but registered a hit in eight of them for a .374 average, which is likely making the Keystones brass look closely at bringing him north with the big club. The only thing standing in Robicheaux's way might be Hank Koblenz, another third baseman and former first round pick, who smacked 11 homers in 42 games after being called up late last season. The expectation is eventually Robicheaux will be moved, perhaps to first base, in order for Philadelphia to take full advantage of both powerful bats in their lineup.

CHUCK ADAMS First base Brooklyn Kings (#7 on OSA top prospects list): Originally a 1935 second round pick of the Chicago Chiefs out of Memphis High School - the same school that produced a legendary first baseman by the name of Rankin Kellogg back in the feeder league days. Adams was a two-time High School All-American selection and one of the prize prospects Brooklyn received from the Chiefs when they dealt outfielder Bill May to Chicago at the 1938 trade deadline. He has been in OSA's top ten prospect list since the 1938 season began and only helped his standing in that regard with a .264/19/73 showing in 137 games at AAA Rochester last season. Brooklyn has been experimenting with him in the outfield as they also have another fine young first base prospect in 'Tiny Tim' Hopkins, who was selected by the Kings 4 picks after their original target Adams was snatched up by the Chiefs. There are concerns neither Hopkins nor Adams can successfully make the transition to the outfield which means one of them will likely have to eventually be traded by the club. Hopkins made his big league debut last season and now that Adams has been added to the secondary roster the expectation is he will be in Brooklyn sometime this year.

BILL GREENE Center Field Montreal Saints (#8 on OSA top prospects list): Greene joins Heinie Billings and Dilly Ward as solid centerfield options in the Saints system that made it easier to part with long-time star Pablo Reyes prior to last season. As of now Greene is not on the Saints 40-man roster but it just seems to be a matter of time before that changes especially after Saints skipper Dick Pozza spoke so highly of the 23 year old just last week. Greene is the latest Rhode Island native (joining the Pestilli brothers) ready to make his mark on a big league outfield. He was a three year starter and 3 time AIAA All-American (2 first team selections and a second) at Brooklyn Catholic before the Saints selected him third overall last year. After solid but brief showings in A and AA, Greene was fast tracked to AAA Minneapolis where he hit .249 with 4 homers and 6 stolen bases in 51 games for the Lumberjacks. Because of the depth at the center field position in Montreal the Saints may elect to keep Greene in AAA much of the year but there is a strong chance he will be a September call-up, and might be in the big leagues sooner if he has a hot start in Minneapolis.

BUDDY SCHNEIDER Second base Boston Minutemen (#14 on OSA top prospects list): It is hard not to mention Buddy without bringing up his brother Skipper Schneider (#21 on OSA list, Chicago Cougars), part of the triplets who were amazingly selected in succession with picks 7,8 and 9 in the first round of last year's draft. The third member of the family is pitcher Bart, who appears to be a long ways away from the big leagues in the Cleveland system. Skipper is looking like he is close but faces a tough task of unseating either Freddie Jones or Billy Hunter with the Cougars so Buddy is the best bet to get to the big leagues ahead of his siblings. The Minutemen do have 23 year old Lew McClendon seemingly penciled in for the long haul as their shortstop but Buddy might push veterans Art Spencer and Joe Nichols for the second base job. He is not on the secondary roster yet so it might be a little ambitious to think Buddy will make his debut this season but after hitting .308 in 72 games at AAA last season coming right out of high school you have to think a September call-up is a distinct possibility. If that happens Schneider could be the first teenager to suit up for a game with the Boston Minutemen since 19 year old's Billy Porter and Bob Landry combined to appear in 4 games in 1908. Regardless if Schneider gets to Boston this season or not, you have to be impressed how he can go from being an infielder at Northwestern High School in Detroit straight to AAA and accomplishing what he did. His defense at his natural shortstop position was well above average so if he shifts to second because of McClendon he should be an amazing second sacker with the glove.

Of the five players listed above only Greene has looked comfortable at the plate this spring so while those five top the list of OSA prospects, there is a good chance that the time for big league debut for each might be delayed. There are a lot of others that deserve to be on this list of top prospects approaching being ready for a big league debut including but certainly not limited to Washington outfielder Chubby Hall, Montreal second sacker Charlie Woodbury, Cincinnati third baseman Danny Andrews and Boston outfielder Bill Burkett.
ROOKIE'S LAMENT - These are the fateful days that disclose the sad tidings to the rookie. After his spectacular spring performances, and all the sacchariferous writeups of the same, the manager discovers he isn't quite what he seemed. So it's back to the tall and uncut grass, the unwashed herd from whence he came - for further seasoning.

It doesn't do any good to say that it's all for the best. The idea that he'll be able to play regularly with the Bird Center Inchworms, whereas with the Kings or Stars he'd spend most of the season on the bench, doesn't appeal to him. All the detached rookie can feel is that he didn't make the grade. There is a crushing conviction, too, that he never again will get another shot at the permanent limelight of FABL. That, usually, is an error - if the rookie is young enough and possesses real ability.

What the crestfallen rookie should really worry about is he doesn't come up to the majors TOO MANY times. By the same token he has to descend to the sticks an equal number of times. And in so doing he finally collects the sinister label "born minor-leaguer."

BROOKLYN SAMPLE
Brooklyn had one of the very best samples of the specimen a few years back. Surely you haven't forgotten Charlie Powell. Mr. Powell, a burly fellow, had all the earmarks, also some clumsiness in his broad feet. Chuck was a confirmed commuter between the bushes and the big top, having been up and down five times before the majors quit him.

Powell's portrait as a born minor leaguer is worth studying. Originally a rugby football star as a teen in his native Canada, Powell could also belt the horsehide a mile and that skillset earned him a full ride with Boulder State University, for whom he excelled on the gridiron as well as the diamond.

Following his days as a schoolboy star Powell was selected by the Cleveland Foresters in the 8th round of the 1926 FABL draft. In 1927 he hit 36 homers for Reading of the Middle Atlantic League in just 85 games. He followed that up with a great start between AA and AAA the following season which caught the attention of Rube Carter, who was the Brooklyn scouting director at the time. The Kings acquired Powell at the trade deadline and he would hit 16 more homers in 45 games with AAA Houston after smacking 36 round-trippers at two stops in the Foresters system to begin the season.

Powell seemed a can't miss prospect, with the Kings having visions of him becoming their most feared slugger since Paul Tattersall was traded a decade earlier. Powell got a taste of the big league life in '28, hitting 3 homers as a September call-up and spent much of the 1929 season with the big club, batting .288 with 21 homeruns. He would also spend all of 1929 and 1930 in Brooklyn but his power numbers and batting average both nose-dived. By 1931 Powell's life as a big league regular was over and at age 27 he began a series of year shuffling between Brooklyn and the sticks. Finally in 1934, after hitting just .211 with no homers in 27 games the Kings released him. Flash forward to this season and Powell, now 35, is still going strong, although as a 6 year veteran of the Oklahoma City Chiefs in the lowly Western Baseball League.

So let the story of Charlie Powell be a cautionary tale for young hotshots like Frank Cunningham of the Kings, a 20 year old who may be getting his fleeting moments of fame right now in spring play. The youngster, who practiced his trade in the far off depths of Tampa and Marshalltown last season, is the darling of the Brooklyn papers in recent days with 2 homers and a .381 batting average in 7 games with the big boys of FABL. However, big league fame is fleeting. Just ask Charlie Powell who had more of it that most but still can't shake the seemingly long gone hope of getting another taste, even as he spends half a decade riding broken down buses and playing in dustbowl ballparks in non-descript western towns.

QUICK HITS

• The Wright Stuff? A peak at the spring batting leaders shows the name Hans Wright topping the list. Forgive the casual FABL fan for not recognizing the name as Wright has been overshadowed in the Philadelphia Keystones system by players like Davey Robicheaux, Billy Woytek and Hank Koblenz. The 24 year old third round pick in the 1936 draft is doing his best this spring to change that. Wright leads all hitters with at least 25 spring plate appearances with a .600 batting average following a 2-for-3 showing in a win over Pittsburgh yesterday. Clearly no one in Philadelphia is ready to anoint him as the heir to Rankin Kellogg at first base but Wright has certainly been impressive the past three weeks and looks like he has earned himself a big league job.
• The Pittsburgh Miners are encouraged with the spring performances of youngsters Tony Puccinello and Speed Brown. If one can develop into a legit mid-rotation option, it could give them a lot more flexibility in making a mid-season deal down the line. Pittsburgh did receive some bad news on the pitching front this week when reliever Chick Stout went down with another injury that is expected to sideline him for an extended period.
• Looks like the New York Gothams are in the market for a catcher as the club feels top prospect Pete Casstevens needs more time in the minors after an awful spring for the 21 year old. Odds are New York should have little trouble finding at least a serviceable candidate on the waiver wire. The Gothams number one worry however remains, as always, it's pitching staff. Nate Spear is being counted on to be the ace and he has been healthy for a change but has had a rough spring, getting hit badly in his first three starts before finally having a decent showing yesterday against the Chicago Chiefs. The hope in Gothams land is he builds on that and is ready to go when the games count a little over a week from now. Gus Goulding, the anticipated #2 starter who was acquired from Cincinnati over the winter, has also been inconsistent this spring.
• Another solid week for the Cannons who have gone from being desperate for pitching to facing some tough decisions with a lot of pitchers showing very well in camp. It looks like longtime Cannon stalwart Pinky Conlan will be a casualty as the injury prone righthander followed up a bad season a year ago with a less than stellar spring and is expected to be placed on waivers.
• Toronto has set their Opening Day roster, Juan Pomales was one of the players sent to Buffalo after some subpar spring training pitching performances. The 25 year old two-way player, rated in the top 50 prospects by OSA, struggled both on the mound and at the dish. He was acquired from the Chicago Cougars organization in a winter deal that sent another highly touted pitching prospect in Donnie Jones to the Windy City.
• With roster cut down day just a week away every FABL club will face some tough decisions but perhaps none more difficult that the ones the Brooklyn Kings will have to make. Many are speculating this might be the end of the line at Kings County for Doug Lightbody. The long-time King is now 36 and clearly not the hitter he once was and there is speculation he may be released by the club. Brooklyn also has a pitching crunch and one young arm who might be on the outside is 23 year old Jack Goff, who is out of minor league options so must remain on the Kings 24 man roster or be exposed on waivers. Complicating matters is Goff's father Danny is the Kings pitching coach.

• A tale of a wild plot to overthrow the government is being told to the Dies Committee. A secret agent working for a former House investigating committee claims that fascist activist and Silver Shirts leader William Pelley had enlisted the aid of certain army officers in plan to overthrow the Federal Government and become the "white king" of the country. Pelley founded the anti-semitic Silver Legion and has been a long-time critic of President Roosevelt and the New Deal. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for President in 1936, winning only 1,600 votes.
• Thomas E Dewey took control of Wisconsin's delegation to the Republican National Convention while Democrats from the state favoured a third term for President Roosevelt by a wide margin.
• Prime Minister Chamberlain warned neutral nations that aiding the Reich might render themselves 'liable to the hideous fate that has overtaken previous victims of German policy." Chamberlain also revealed to the House of Commons that the British are tightening their stranglehold on German trade by controlling the sea to interfere with passage of German cargo ships from Scandanavia while also warning neutrals that their imports from the British Empire will be cut unless they limit their sales to Germany.
• The Nazis angrily denounced Chamberlain's message as "proof" that the Allies were planning more intense and ruthless war "against neutrals" and declared the Nazi air force would "strike the hardest blow in destruction of England."
• Britain announced the loss of it's first fighter plane in the war. The Spitfire, while defending the coast from German attack was downed near Yorkshire. The pilot, who was successfully rescued, did succeed in destroying the German bomber before ditching in the ocean himself.
• Chamberlain announced later in the week he was "ten times as confident" of victory now as when he was when the war began, because Hitler "missed the bus" by failing to use the arms superiority Germany had at the start.

April 1940 - Spring Training
 

APRIL 15, 1940

STRONG FINISH HAS DYNAMOS POISED FOR FAST START

The Detroit Dynamos finished the spring schedule with a bang, winning their last 6 games and 11 of their final 13 as they look to get off to a quick start in hopes of winning the Federal Association pennant after two consecutive second place finishes. Despite finishing with a 15-9 spring mark, best in the Fed and tied with Cleveland for the top showing overall, the Dynamos do have some concerns entering camp. The biggest one centers around Sal Pestilli as the young superstar had a rather pedestrian spring at the plate and there were some worries that perhaps the nagging shoulder injury that slowed him down the stretch last season is still acting up.

For his part Pestilli insists he was fine but there was concern entering the final week of spring camp as Sal had still not homered and managed just two extra base hits after 19 spring contests. He did alleviate worries with a 5-for-14 showing in the final week to increase his spring batting average to .250 and the week saw Pestilli notch a pair of extra base knocks including his first homer, which came against St Louis in the second to last spring contest. Detroit's offense, which got off to a sluggish start last season, clearly revolves around Pestilli so the Dynamos certainly need him at the top of his game as it was Sal's injury last season that likely was the difference in Pittsburgh nosing out the Dynamos by a single game for the pennant.

The games begin for real on Tuesday with a full slate of games. Here are the final spring standings and league leaders in batting average and ERA.

END OF LINE FOR MOST HATED MAN IN BASEBALL

After 6 seasons with the Philadelphia Keystones and less than 24 hours as a Chicago Chief Bobby Many's days in FABL appear to be over. The man more than one Philadelphia teammate dubbed "the biggest horses ass in the sport" was cut loose by the Keystones the other day and quickly claimed by the Chicago Chiefs, who liked the idea of his left handed bat and .285 career average. However, after the entire Chiefs team approached manager Joe Ward demanding he tell the Chiefs GM they did not wish to have Many on their team, the Chiefs changed their mind and decided to release the 31 year old before he set foot in the Chicago clubhouse. Many had ties to the Chiefs organization as he played his college ball at Whitney College where he was a first team All-American in 1929 but his quarrelsome reputation caused a mini revolt among Chiefs players. There has never been a question about Many's talent - he was a first round pick of the Keystones in the 1929 draft and went on to play 413 games for Philadelphia, but everything else about him screamed trouble. He is a rare player with the most negative rating combination in the five key personality attributes: His greed is high while his work ethic, intelligence, leadership and loyalty are all low. In the early days of his career teammates and management would overlook that as, while Many seemed very self-involved, he was not the disruptive force that prompted one birddog to recently put in his scouting report "(Many's) cantankerous personality undermines team morale."

While that combination of personality ratings that Bobby Many has is rare, it is certainly not unique in baseball as the sport has had it's share of awful people and some went on to have pretty solid careers. Following up on a suggestion of a reader in Philadelphia here is FABL's All-Time Jack Ass Team. Each of the players listed below had the same personality traits as Many (high greed and low everything else) but some certainly did not let it stop them from fashioning pretty solid careers:

PITCHER: RAY MATHEWS- Mathews shared Many's personality ratings but still managed to win 166 games for the Stars and Pittsburgh from 1909-17, a total that ties him with current Pittsburgh Miners hurler Bill Ketterman for 84th on the all-time wins list.

CATCHER: HEINIE BUEHLER- The 28 year old German born Buehler is "not well liked at all" but that hasn't stopped him from playing parts of three seasons with the Montreal Saints. He is still in the Saints system, having spent time at A, AA and AAA so his personality was able to poison multiple locker rooms in the organization last season.

FIRST BASE: ANDY CARTER- Better known as a second baseman who spent a number of years in Washington where he was named to the All-Star team twice, Carter is now 34 and serving as a backup infielder with the Pittsburgh Miners. Not necessarily disruptive at this stage of his career but he is certainly 'self-absorbed'. He is also very talented, having led the Federal Association in triples 4 times and is a lifetime .320 hitter.

SECOND BASE: MOSES AMMON- 19th century player who had 2,479 FABL hits, a number high enough to rank him 26th all-time. He had a bit of power for his era as well and he twice hit double-digit homers in a career that stretched 19 seasons, primarily with the New York Stars but also in Toronto, where he won a WCS, and one year with Cincinnati of the old Border Association.

THIRD BASE: CARL MILLAM- Millam is still active and disrupting clubhouses in the Great Western League as a member of the Seattle Thunderbirds. That Indy team's morale must be a mess as Millam is one of three players who share those terrible personality attributes on the team, joining outfielders Bill Bradley and Billy Miller. To make the clubhouse even worse, the Thunderbirds have finished last in the league three of the last four seasons including last year when they went 50-90. Scouts say this of Bradley, who originally was a 6th round pick of Pittsburgh but never advanced past AA in the Miners system. "There would be a few more smiles around the clubhouse if Bradley wasn't there." As for Miller, whoever wrote the book on him was trying to be diplomatic simply saying the 33 year, who lasted just two seasons with an affiliated team before heading to Indy ball in 1928, is "best described as strident." Clearly the author of that report had recently been gifted a thesaurus. But let's get back to Millam, or as scouts prefer to call him "a prima donna, who is hard to get along with."...and I imagine those might be his good points. He actually was a decent ballplayer in his early days and played 690 games for the Boston Minutemen in the 1920s after being a second round draft pick. Boston could tolerate his attitude when he was hitting .280-.295 as he did for several seasons but when he batted .230 in 1929 his act got old very quickly and he found himself in Seattle starting in 1931.

SHORTSTOP: WILLY WEBER- Weber played just 174 FABL games and suited up for 3 different teams in 3 years but did win a WCS title in 1893 with Toronto in his only season as a big league regular. He also won a number of minor league titles with Toledo and later Indianapolis so he must have been doing something right, at least on the ballfield. He was said to be an outstanding defensive shortstop. Like Buehler, Weber was born in Germany before moving to the United States as a child.

OUTFIELD: FRANCIS HOUSTON- Born in Leavenworth, Kansas and perhaps many teammates speculated he belonged in the prison constructed in his hometown but say of him what you will, Houston had a long and pretty successful big league career. He made his debut with the Philadelphia Keystones in 1894 but went to Detroit the following season and spent over a decade with the Dynamos before finishing his career in Boston, where he was on a pair of WCS winners. A lifetime .286 hitter, Houston had 1,567 big league hits in 1,518 career games.

OUTFIELD: BOBBY MANY- Already discussed above but Many holds the distinction of likely being the only player an entire team united against to have removed before he ever stepped foot in their clubhouse. Clearly Mr. Many has earned a reputation.

OUTFILED: BERT HARRISON- Played just 273 FABL games over two seasons with two different teams (Detroit & Boston) but spent a long time in the minors primarily with Nashville of the Dixie League but he also was released by 12 different teams in a career that stretched from 1894 until 1909.

DISHONOURBALE MENTION: JOHNNY TUNER: Turner deserves mention because he is the third player with those personality traits to ever be a first round draft pick (following Andy Carter and Bobby Many). Cleveland took him 4th overall in 1930 out of George Fox, for whom he was an All-American in his draft year. He only played 128 big league games but is still active in the Great West League (seems like a lot of talented guys with bad attitudes end up there) with Sacramento. Turner is all about one thing - and that thing would be Johnny Turner. Interesting is that he has a connection to Bobby Many in that one of Turner's teammates at George Fox University was Rip Curry, who also had the misfortune of sharing the Keystones outfield for several years with Many.

NEW SAILORS MANAGER LOOKING FORWARD TO BIG LEAGUE TEST

Steve Basile is 24 spring games into his big league career as he prepares for his first season as manager of the Philadelphia Sailors. The 42 year old never played the game at the professional level and has had a fairly quick rise as a skipper as he has just one pro season under his belt. The Sailors lured him away from Frankford State, a program he had ran since 1932, and all Basile did in one season of Class B baseball is guide the Miami Sailors to a 103-37 record and a Southeastern League title. Titles are nothing new for the Miami club as they have won 10 pennants in the last 13 years with the Sailors system being considered one of the most successful at all levels in the sport. Basile had some success mentoring pitchers at Frankford State with Boston farmhand Clarence Linden, a 1935 4th round pick and Tom Williams, who has pitched a bit for the Chicago Chiefs being the most prominent pair. Current Montreal Saints infielder Red Moore also credits his time with the Owls and Basile's mentorship for his success.

It is no surprise the Sailors hired from within as the man Basile replaced also started in the Sailors minor league chain before getting his shot. That would be John Heydon, who had spent over a decade managing in the Sailors organization with the past 7 years heading the big league club. Heydon led the Sailors to a pair of second place finishes during his tenure, including 1937 when they forced Brooklyn to a tie-breaking game only to come up short, but he never won a title. His big league record as a manager stands at 544-453. Heydon, who is now looking for employment did win 4 minor league pennants in his managerial career including 3 at the AAA level - with San Francisco in 1932 and previously with Louisville of the Union League in 1925-26.

QUICK HITS

• The New York World Telegram outlines the many questions fans have about the Gothams and notes their patience with the New York rebuild is waning. "The final cuts have been made, rosters have been adjusted and we're ready for another season. Unfortunately the New York fans may be less than thrilled with their Gothams. Season ticket sales are down a little, so is fan interest. Also down is Pete Casstevens who never got his bat going this spring. Still just 21 Casstevens appears to need a little more seasoning down at Toledo. In his stead is veteran backup Nick Lake. Until Casstevens is ready Joe Green will handle the majority of work behind the plate. For the most part the lineup will look much as it did the end of the '39 season with the one addition of flashy CF Hal Roberts. Roberts has the speed and glove to man CF. The question is whether his power bat can translate from AAA. AS for the rotation, once again it will require patience and some prayer. Is Nate Spear healthy? Is new acquisition Gus Goulding all that management thought he was? Can Bob Adams replicate his steady if unspectacular work from last year before he too was hurt? Is former top prospect Bunny Edwards ready to turn the corner and cash in on his promise? Those answers will determine whether the Gothams can make a move in the standings or find themselves buried in the basement again."
• Detroit finished off it's strong spring run with back to back extra inning wins. On Thursday Elmer Nolde, who was under fire early from management after a slow start, was the hero with a 12th inning rbi single to vault the Dynamos past St Louis on Thursday and then the following day it was Detroit newcomer Len Jones who put it to his former club with a 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th to give Detroit a 5-3 win over the Chicago Chiefs. Jones had spent the past 9 seasons with the Chiefs until being waived two weeks ago and claimed by the Dynamos. Rookie Detroit manager Pat Lictenegger says his charges are ready and the Dynamos will get a stiff test right away as they open the season in Chicago on Tuesday.
• The Boston Minutemen are hoping for big things this season and they jump into the fire very quickly as Boston has a grinder of a first week. They play 3 in Washington Tuesday through Thursday. Then they come home to face Pittsburgh in a home opener doubleheader! and then play them two more times to give Boston 7 games in 6 days right out of the shoot. Their whole starting rotation will have to each get a start.
• The World Champion New York Stars are feeling much better about their spring after the Stars trimmed the roster down prior to this past week's games and got rid of some bad pitching. The result is the Stars skate out of the last week of spring 4-1. Looks like they are ready for the opener in Montreal. Bill Barrett certainly is. The 20 year old star of last seasons WCS went 7-for-10 this week at the plate and finishes the spring schedule with a .363 batting average to go with 4 homers and 17 rbi's. His RBI total was tops in either association for the spring while only Boston's Bob Donoghue hit more homers (6) than Barrett.
• The Cincinnati Cannons officially cut all ties with the last Cannon team to have a winning record as Pinky Conlan was designated for assignment and likely will be released if he is not claimed on waivers. The 30 year old righthander made his Baltimore debut in 1931, joining a rotation anchored by Rabbit Day and Ken Carpenter that led the Cannons to a second place finish with an 85-69 record that season. They dropped to 6th the following season and 7th in 1933 before starting a string that has now reached six last place finishes. Conlan, who was often injured, has been on the Cannons ever since and posted a 42-71 career record. It is expected he will catch on with an independent team as most FABL clubs will likely be scared off by his injury history and struggles on the mound the past two seasons.
• It was a more expected result out of the Cannons the final week with a 1-4 record but 3 of the losses were by a single run with Larry Brown taking the loss out of the pen each time and he may now be the odd guy out of the mix for a bullpen spot.

• Germany steps up it's aggression, invading Norway and Denmark by land, sea and air with a hint that Holland is next.
• Heavy fighting on the waters off the coast of Norway erupts between British and German warships as Germany takes control of Norway's capital city of Oslo.
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• The French army is anticipating a possible heavy German offensive on the western front.
• As the week progresses the Allies begin bombing Nazi occupied Oslo and are attempting to land troops near the city to prepare for an attack.
• In a formal statement President Roosevelt condemns Germany's invasion of Denmark and Norway and declared that if civilization itself is to survive "powerful neighbors" must respect the rights of small nations to Independence.
• Roosevelt also urged Pan-America to prepare, saying that the 21 American countries can successfully "meet force with force" to keep war and aggression out of this hemisphere.
• War stocks soared while others dipped heavily in the most intense day of trading on Wall Street since the conflict began last September.

Opening Day Awaits - April 1930
 

APRIL 16, 1940

OPENING DAY AWAITS!

Is there any better time of the year than Opening Day? The dead of winter has heaved it's final chilly breath and signs of spring are in the air while fans of each of the 16 FABL clubs have at the very least some small sliver of hope that this may finally be the year their heroes win it all. Soon the grim reality of another failed season will descend upon most of them like the blistering summer heat as the months progress but right now their team's season is full of possibilities. That will change quickly for some teams but for the moment the dream is still alive. If anything that flicker of hope burns even brighter this Opening Day than it might have in previous years after seeing what the New York Stars did last season, completing a rags to riches tale with a World Championship parade down Riverside Drive after defying the so-called experts with a title when few saw them destined even for the first division.

This year BNN is not calling for a major surprise among the pennant winners as the league news service feels the Stars will repeat in the Continental Association while Detroit will break through and claim the Fed crown after two straight second place finishes. BNN does have Toronto rebounding from a dreadful season last year and coming within a whisker of the Continental pennant which, if it plays out that way, would give the Wolves two second place finishes in the past three years sandwiched around a 6th place showing. BNN is much more adventurous in it's assessment of the Federal Association. Not with Detroit being the winner as the Dynamos seem to be the popular choice this year but the call of St Louis to finish a close second and for the Philadelphia Keystones to end up in the first division are each considered major surprises by many prognosticators.

Here is how BNN sees the two races playing out and who it feels the top performers in each Association will be:

OSA HEAD SCOUT CALLS FOR PITTSBURGH - TORONTO WCS

Dan Barrell, the head of the OSA feels the Pittsburgh Miners have what it takes to win a second consecutive Federal Association Pennant. Barrell does acknowledge that staying healthy will be paramount for the veteran Miners who, if successful, would win the Fed for the third time in the past four years. On the Continental side of things the former Brooklyn King and Olympic decathlete likes the Toronto Wolves to finally snap their pennant drought that stretches back to 1911.
Here are Dan Barrell's words on how he sees the races playing out:
Barrell is bullish on the Philadelphia Keystones chances of getting back to .500 after losing over 90 games each of the past two years. "I think (the first division) is definitely possible," said Barrell when questioned by Johnny Bologna of the Philadelphia Inquisitor. "Your youngsters look pretty good," added the OSA boss. "It'll boil down to pitching as usual. And I think Bobby bounces back pretty good this season too," he added in reference to his brother, Keystones star outfielder Bobby Barrell.

In response to a comment from the Detroit World's Freddie Farhat about the Dynamos brass not tolerating another second place finish Barrell had the following thoughts.

"It probably will come down to health. You'll win 90+, but the Miners might win 100+ and Boston might win 90 too. That disparity between the top three and everyone else is pretty big. There are three big dogs and separating them is difficult. Overall I think the Miners have a slight edge on both the Dynamos and Minutemen. But the games will tell the story. The only shocker to me will be if someone outside the trio I mentioned above wins the pennant. No shock at all if it is one of those three. The same can be said on the other side. I'm 99% sure it will be one of these three: Wolves, Cougars, Stars. Anyone else will be a surprise."

HOW WILL YOUR FAVOURITE TEAM DO THIS SEASON? HERE IS WHAT THE EXPERTS THINK

For the second consecutive season TWIFB has decided to take a look around FABL and see how various national and local scribes see the 1940 season playing out. While there are certainly some surprises among various selections for the most part each of the prognosticators seemed to agree it would be Detroit and Pittsburgh once again fighting it out for the Federal Association title while in the Continental they see the defending champion New York Stars battling it out with the Toronto Wolves and Chicago Cougars.

Every Fed prediction has either Pittsburgh or Detroit coming in first and with 12 predictions in total it is a dead heat as 6 of them see the Miners repeating while the other six call it for Detroit with the Dynamos claiming the crown after two straight second place finishes. We had 13 predictions for the Continental title (the Toronto Mail & Empire only made a forecast for the CA) and 5 of them including both Jiggs McGee and Percy Sutherland favoured the Chicago Cougars. The Wolves and Stars each were picked first by 4 organizations.

The Brooklyn Kings might have been the most polarizing team as they were picked as high as second by TWIFB's Jiggs McGee but 5 newspapers felt the Kings crash last season from the pennant to 7th place was just the start of trouble in Brooklyn so they each listed the Kings to finish in the basement of the CA. The Federal Association's Boston Minutemen also had a huge range in where they are projected to finish. The majority of the calls were for Boston to finish somewhere between third and fifth but the Washington Times Herald feels the Minutemen will finish second to Pittsburgh. At the other end of the spectrum we have BNN's preseason forecast of Boston dropping to 7th place this season.

Here are predictions from various newspapers as well as OSA.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

Here is a collection of notes and articles taken from various newspapers around the FABL as the local scribes give us an update on what is happening with the team they cover:

CINCINNATI POST

Cannons owner John E. Tice scoffed when asked this week how many years it will take the Cannons to get out of the Continental Association cellar. "That was the old Cannons," bristled Tice. "This is a fresh start and I have told my management team I fully expect us to be a .500 club this season. Tice is a tad overzealous according to most of the newspapermen around the league. None of the major daily papers see the Cannons finishing better than 7th in the Continental Association.

MONTREAL STAR

The Montréal Saints final roster will be including highly ranked outfield prospect Bill Greene. The injury to veteran OF Jim Watson and the trading of Dilly Ward to Washington opens a spot for the youngster. On the not so happy side, 3B Spud Bent was clearly upset when he got a train ticket to Minneapolis. Probably just a matter of time before he gets back to the big club but Bent, who hit .352 in a short stint with the Saints last season, has only himself to blame with a poor batting performance during training camp. Saints manager Dick Pozza gave Bent plenty of starts in spring play so he could find his rhythm and stick with Montréal, but he struggled which led to the decision to send him to Minneapolis. Bent had a similar slow start last year.

PHILADELPHIA INQUISTITOR

The future is now in Philadelphia. The Keystones have their young starting infield in place for Opening Day: 1B Hans Wright, 2B Billy Woytek, SS Tim Humphrey, 3B Hank Koblenz. Hank McKay will get most of the starts in right field. Chuck Hood and Bob Land make the big club out of Spring Training for the first time. Also, since there was an open rotation slot after the trade of Ed Baker to Montreal, the spot was won by rookie Henry Shaffer, who won 20 games between A Allentown and AA New Orleans last season.

The Keystones have 11 top-100 prospects, with one (#6 Davey Robicheaux) inside the top 30. Four of those prospects will be breaking camp with the Keystones: McKay (#42), Wright (#55), Humphrey (#58), and Shaffer (#86).

Critics, such as Johnny Bologna in the Philadelphia Inquisitor (a recent addition to the Inquisitor Sports Staff from the Camden Crier), think that Hans Wright and Henry Shaffer need more seasoning. Bologna also thinks the leash may be short on Hank Koblenz if his struggles continue in the regular season and Davey Robicheaux continues to mash in Louisville.

PITTSBURGH PRESS

The Miners have made it through Spring Training without too many injury problems, besides losing Chick Stout and Frank Buchanan, and the latter would likely have been in AAA to start the year anyways. Jack Cleaves made a quicker recovery than expected so he will be in the Opening Day lineup.
Starting lineup for opening day with last year's OPS+:
LF Joe Owens - 140
2B Lew Seals - 129
C George Cleaves - 158
1B Mahlon Strong - 148
RF Henry Jones - 155
3B Jack Cleaves - 136
CF Pablo Reyes - 116
SS Les Tucker - 111

ST LOUIS GLOBE

A couple of surprises on the Pioneers roster. Rookie infielder Abel Gardner made the team as Artie D'Alessandro's back up. Abel had a good spring but Artie will open the season as the starter. OF Henry Cox and IF Ed Smock also had good spring showings and are on the opening day roster. Sam Sheppard also made the team and will start the season out of the bullpen. We will see where that goes as he will be on a short leash considering the disaster he has been the past two seasons. Last season's third round pick, hometown boy Harry Sharp, earned a spot in the rotation to start the year.

TORONTO MAIL & EMPIRE

The Wolves success in 1940 depends on someone stepping up to provide offensive help to Fred McCormick, for as good as McCormick is he cannot solely carry the team at the plate. Third baseman Walt Pack, who hit .341 with 13 homers in half a season last year, is the obvious choice but there are a number of other players, veterans and youngsters, who could have a big season to lead Toronto to a CA title. Expect a great deal of lineup tinkering to find the sweet spot. The other question is whether or not Big Fred will again threaten or surpass the magical .400 mark. Pitching is not a concern as the Wolves staff is again poised to be among the top staffs in the league.

MCCORMICK, ALLEN TOP PLAYER RANKINGS

It comes as very little surprise that Fred McCormick of the Toronto Wolves and Pittsburgh ace Lefty Allen are considered the top position player and pitcher in the latest OSA player rankings. The Detroit Dynamos lead the way with 6 players currently occupying the list and they are equally spread out between pitchers (Frank Crawford, Sergio Gonzales and Charlie Wheeler) and position players (Sal Pestilli, Red Johnson and Frank Vance). Pittsburgh is second with 5 players while the Toronto Wolves top the CA representation with 4 including three very talented arms in George Garrison, Joe Hancock and Bernie Johnson. Only the New York Gothams failed to have a player crack either of the lists.

THERE IS SOME HOPE FOR CANNONS FANS
AS CLUB HAS TOP MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM

OSA's updated minor league system rankings keeps the Cincinnati Cannons at the top of the chart. The Cannons, who moved from Baltimore over the winter, have finished last in the Continental Association each of the last six years but with three of the top 14 prospects and seven ranked in the top 100 perhaps there is hope down the road. The top prospect remains pitcher Ed Bowman, a 20 year old with the New York Gothams organization. With Bowman and catcher Pete Casstevens the Gothams own two of the top four prospects. Here is how OSA seem the organizational rankings as of Opening Day:

150,000 AWAIT CRY OF 'PLAY BALL!'

Menacing clouds cast the getaway of baseball's 16 major league clubs into gloom and uncertainty today but all were chafing for the chance to spring into action. The weather, fair and cold throughout the East and mid-West over the weekend, turned traitorous on the eve of the opening and not a single game was safe from the threat of the elements as flag-raising time approaches.

In each case the affairs were listed as the first of a three-game series and any interference in the lid-lifting today would merely postpone the ceremonies until tomorrow, with the cast and scenery unchanged. If all eight games escaped trouble today, upward of 150,000 fans were expected to be present to give their favorites a proper sendoff and launch the game into a new decade.

Eyes in the Continental Association are turned on Montreal where the visiting New York Stars were ready to start the defense of their title in a game with the Saints that seemed all but assured of drawing well in excess of 20,000 patrons to Parc Cartier. Another key matchup takes place in Chicago where two of the finest hurlers in the Federal circuit, reigning Allan Award winner Frank Crawford of Detroit and 3-time Allan Award winner Rabbit Day of the Chiefs were the mound choices.

The annual test of President Roosevelt's pitching prowess in the Boston Minutemen's appearance at the nation's capital will provide the days best sideshow. When the Eagles number one fan gets through throwing Jack Elder is schedule to take over for a duel with Boston ace Dick Higgins.

QUICK HITS

• Detroit management is taking exception to OSA boss Dan Barrell's prediction that the Dynamos will once again fall just short in the Federal Association race. Detroit Assistant General Manager Rankin Trull had this to say. "I'm biased obviously, but if any team is going to win 100 in the Fed I feel like it is us. I just don't see Pittsburgh going that high with wins, but honestly I don't see anyone winning 100 games this season. My number and goal for Detroit is 98 to break the franchise all-time record of 97 wins in 1908." I tend to agree with Trull in I think this is Detroit's year.
• As for Barrell's thoughts on the Continental. The head of the league scouting service elaborated on his pick of Toronto to win the CA pennant as follows: "In my opinion Fred McCormick is the best player in FABL. And Walt Pack is a perfect complement to him. Throw in a pretty good pitching staff and that's why I think the Wolves have a good shot at the pennant. The Cougars & Stars will be the mix for sure - they're both good too. I just feel like this is Toronto's year to break through and get that pennant."
• Looking closer at Walt Pack, the young Toronto third baseman that Dan Barrell (and practically everyone else) is so high on, his stock has really risen since he was selected by Brooklyn in the fourth round of the 1935 draft. At the time, the OSA Mock Draft had Pack ranked 32nd overall and just 8th in what was felt to be a very deep crop of third baseman. The names ahead of him on the OSA list at the time were Mack Sutton, Hank Koblenz, Billy Dalton, Mack Burns, Bill Shaffer, Lew Martin and Sam Miller. That is quite a collection of third basemen in that class when you consider Dalton is already an above average player and you have to think Sutton, Koblenz and Burns are all on the verge of joining him. Shaffer, Martin and Miller do not look like they will develop into big league starters but each is still pretty young. Regardless it was still quite a group with Sutton going 4th overall, one pick ahead of Koblenz. Dalton was also a first round pick, taken 10th by the Chiefs. Burns went in the middle of the second round to Montreal while Pack lasted until the 4th round when Brooklyn selected him.
  It is interesting that 3 of the 5 were traded fairly quickly. In addition to Dalton going from the Chiefs to the Gothams in the Rabbit Day deal, the Dynamos dealt Koblenz to the Keystones in the move that brought Allen Award winner Frank Crawford to the Motor City. Brooklyn traded Pack shortly after the former Henry Hudson star was drafted, sending him along with pitcher Art Blake and a 4th round pick in the deal that brought Jim Lightbody and Alf Pestilli to the Kings.
• Some have questioned the Cannons decision to deal the fifth overall selection to the New York Stars in exchange for slugging outfielder Moxie Pidgeon. Pidgeon will help Cincinnati this season but most feel not enough to help the Cannons avoid a 7th straight last place finish. OSA head Dan Barrell was asked if Cincinnati would have been better off in the long run keeping that fifth pick instead of hoping Pidgeon can lift them out of the cellar this season. "Possibly true," nodded Barrell in agreement. "The thing with picks is unless you're talking about a Sal Pestilli or Bill Barrett, the payoff is down the road. Pidgeon will bring results now, so from that standpoint, yes, it was worth it. In five years, maybe you regret it a little."

• Great Britain announced soldiers have landed at several points in Norway and the Allies are mounting a heavy attack with her navy and air force aimed at forcing the Nazis out of Scandinavia.
• Reports from Paris claim that Germany has lost almost one-third of her navy in the past week of fighting in Scandinavian waters.
• Great Britain and Canada say they will not move into Greenland or Iceland unless it seems certain Germany was about to attempt to seize the islands.

April 1940 - The Regular Season begins
 

APRIL 22, 1940

STARS PICK UP RIGHT WHERE THEY LEFT OFF

There appears to be no World Championship Series hangover for the New York Stars as they came flying out of the gate with 5 wins in their first 6 games of the season. The Stars opened by taking two of three from the Saints and finished the week with a 3 game sweep at home over the Brooklyn Kings. The New York bats were off to a decent start with young shortstop Joe Angevine especially hot and WCS heroes Bill Barrett and ageless wonder Dave Trowbridge also contributing nicely. The pitching, with the lone exception of newcomer Dixie Lee, was also exceptional.

It is far too early to get worked up but in the Federal Association there was also some real excitement in New York as the Gothams, behind some solid pitching for a change, found themselves tied for top spot following a 4-2 week. The thrill of seeing newcomer Gus Goulding toss a complete game 4-hit shutout in his Gothams debut was tempered with the news that Nate Spear is once again injured. New Yorkers hope it is nothing serious but the often injured 24 year old had to be lifted in his second start of the season with what is being called 'stiffness' in his forearm. Spear missed the final month and a half of the 1938 season with forearm inflammation and was shelved for much of last year with shoulder woes.

Courtesy of The Philadelphia Inquisitor

Here is how the Federal Association should shape up this season. I see an improvement out of your beloved Philadelphia Keystones but they still have a ways to go to compete with the big boys of the Fed. I forecast the final standings in the Fed finishing up this way:

• 1 -Detroit - outstanding top of the rotation with Crawford and Gonzales, along with Red Johnson and Sal Pestilli in the middle of a potent order.
• 2- Pittsburgh - when your two best players, Lefty Allen and George Cleaves, are 26 years old, you are in good shape, but will they have enough pitching to overtake Detroit? I say no.
• 3- Chicago - the Chiefs had a bad year last year and I think they are a better team than that. I think the team will go as Rabbit Day will go and he is 35, but I think he has another good season left in him.
• 4 -Philadelphia - the Keystones are on the rise and I think they take the next step in 1940. Lloyd Stevens should step forward and improve on an unusual rookie year where he hit well enough to play somewhere, but did not pitch well enough at all. The midnight trade on the eve of the season of Rip Curry opens up a potential spot for Stevens.
• 5- Boston - a good middle of the order consisting of CF Chick Donnelly, 1B Bob Donoghue, 3B Mack Sutton, and C Bill Van Ness has an average age of 25.
• 6- St. Louis - the post-Freddie Jones era started last year and it was highlighted by Buddy Long's 19 wins. With the 24-year-old Long added to the established ace, 25-year-old David Abalo, they have the pitching to stick around.
• 7-New York - the Gothams have four players in their projected 24-man Opening Day roster over the age of 26 and they are all bench bats or bullpen arms. Youth has been served and they will figure it out at the Major League level.
• 8- Washington - we hope this statement does not need to be proven in the near future: "first in war, first in peace, last in the Federal Association".

Here is the predicted order of finish in the Continental Association:

• 1- New York Stars
• 2- Toronto
• 3- Chicago Cougars
• 4- Cleveland
• 5- Philadelphia Sailors
• 6- Montreal
• 7- Cincinnati
• 8- Brooklyn

DYNAMOS MAKE A COUPLE OF MOVES TO SHORE UP ROSTER DEPTH

The Detroit Dynamos made a pair of trades in the opening week of the season designed to add some depth to the organization. First Detroit sent pitcher Ron Coles and a 7th round draft pick to the Toronto Wolves in exchange for third baseman Nick Wallace and then a short time later the club announced the acquisition of outfielder Rip Curry from the Philadelphia Keystones in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers.

The 30 year old Coles had a solid season pitching primarily out of the pen last year for Detroit, going 6-0 with a 3.72 era, but with the addition of veteran Oscar Morse and the decision to at least for the time being keep Frank Gordon on the big league roster the Dynamos risked losing Coles on waivers because he was out of minor league options. The 31 year old Wallace was in a similar situation in Toronto after losing his starting third base job to Walt Pack and, despite hitting .309 last season the Wolves had no room for him on their 24 man roster.

It is not immediately known where Detroit will find playing time for Wallace as he is unlikely to replace Frank Vance at the hot corner and the possibility of Red Johnson being shifted from first base to the outfield is likely gone with the acquisition of Curry.

The 29 year old Curry has been a very steady hitter over his half dozen years in Philadelphia, batting .307 with 7 homers last year. He was forced out as the Keystones are committed to making pitcher/outfielder Lloyd Stevens plenty of plate appearances this season after a solid rookie season at the dish. The righthanded hitting Curry will likely get a chance to win a starting job in Detroit but the more likely scenario is he platoons with either Elmer Nolde of Alf Pestilli at one of the corner outfield sports.

In return for Curry the Keystones acquire 24 year old outfielder Ed Greenwood, a former lottery draft signing of the Cannons who was claimed on waivers by Detroit over the winter after being cut loose by the Montreal Saints. Greenwood struggled in his first taste of big league action last year, batting just .167 in an 18 game trial in Montreal. Also going to Philadelphia is Abe Abingdon, a 20 year old who went 7-15 at Class B last season. Abingdon was a 5th round pick of Detroit's out of high school in 1938.



WHEN IT STARTS - There is a mistaken notion among otherwise smart baseball men that "the season doesn't start until around May 30." This is another way of saying that by that time the wheat is separated from the chaff. "Class" by that time has begun to tell. The latter part of the argument is okay. But many a manager, gazing in sad retrospect over the season's pennant failure has to come to a tardy conclusion. The race really begins on opening day.

The failures and success between that day and May 30 have frequently decided the pennant winner. Hall of Fame manager Edward Wakeham used to argue that luck never did decide a flag race. The breaks for good and bad evened up over the long course of the pennant grind. Nevertheless, the games that are won and lost in the first blushes of Springtime have decided the fate of flag contenders in September. That is as much as other results later on.

Fans, managers and players live in the moment tough. Early misplays and defeats are lost in the subsequent dust of competition. From the erring individual's standpoint that is fortunate. Miscues that cost victories in April and May are forgotten as the race nears the tape. But woe betide a player who blunders in the last few gasps to the finish line, when the pennant is at stake. As if it wasn't on the first ball pitched on opening day!

WRONG TIME- An example of that is the case of Rip Lee and the Philadelphia Sailors just 3 short years ago. The ill-starred rookie shortstop took much of the blame, along with veteran righthander Doc Newell for the Sailors coming up short in a 1-game playoff with the Brooklyn Kings to decide the 1937 Continental Association flag. Lee unfortunately made his mistakes in October rather than in April or May. He was a gifted young shortstop, very sure-handed with the glove except for this one fateful day. Despite committing just 18 errors in the previous 148 games that season, Lee would make two costly miscues in this contest including one in the opening inning that allowed the Brooklyn side to build a quick 3-0 lead as the coasted to their second straight title with a convincing 8-0 victory.

While it might have been easy to blame Lee or Newell, who won 20 games that season but had a rough outing against the Kings - a team he perhaps ironically has no-hit twice in his career - and because it came on the brightest stage and at the biggest moment his season will be considered a disappointment. Yet few remember Newell was 8-3 by early June and Lee was batting .310 as the month of May came to a close. The rest of the Sailors were not so successful at that stage, meandering along at a .500 pace (21-21) as the calendar turned to June. The Kings on the other hand, sprinted out of the gate with a 25-16 start. Had the Sailors managed to be just 1 game over .500 in the opening month and a half of the season then a playoff game, and Lee's miscues, would never have occurred. Fans would have been treated to an all-Pennsylvania World Championship Series for the first time in history and perhaps Sailor fans would still be talking about 1937 as the year they won their third WCS. To say the games of April and May do not really matter is to set yourself up for the games is the talk of fools.

QUICK HITS

• Congratulations to Rabbit Day on his 250th career victory. The 35 year old (Day will turn 36 on May 1st) went the distance Sunday to beat St Louis 6-4 after coming up short in the season opener when he was outdueled by Frank Crawford in a 2-0 Detroit victory. The active career leader in pitching victories seems like a sure fire Hall of Famer in the eyes of Detroit scribe Freddie Farhat and TWIFB's Jiggs McGee concurs 100%.
• Allen Award winning SP Frank Crawford picked up where he left off last season going 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 19 IP for the once again offensively challenged Dynamos in the early season. The Double D’s went 3-3 in the first week scoring just 19 runs (3.3 rpg). They dropped 2 straight 1-run games after shutting out the Chiefs behind Crawford on Opening Day by identical 4-3 scores.
• The Pittsburgh Miners return pretty much the exact same squad that comprised last year's pennant winning club. According to the Pittsburgh Press the Miners brass feels they have the offensive depth to withstand a handful of the usual injuries. The big question is if the pitching will hold up one more year. Lefty Allen has put a lot of innings on his arm the last 4 years, Charlie Stedman will be 38 in a month and Karl Johnson just had by far the best year of his career, so a regression might be expected. The Miners the last few years have gone with a 4 man rotation for the majority of the season, and that is still the plan this year. However, a full slate of games in the opening week, including a double-header, has necessitated a 5th starter and in it has become an audition for the 4th spot. It's between veteran Roger Perry who was 9-0 last year after being acquired from the Gothams (where he was 1-8) and young hard throwing lefty Speed Brown who has been competent in almost 70 FABL innings. It was tough sledding for both Brown and Perry in their opening stars as each was tagged with a loss and roughed up pretty good in their outings.
• Lot of head scratching in Boston. John Edwards who had a fantastic spring gets torched for 5 earned against Washington in his lone start. Then you have Donnelly and Donoghue off to slow starts while Mack Sutton (.381,1,1), Bill Van Ness (.320,1,6) and rookie Bill Burkett (.357,0,8) providing all the offense. Of course this is small sample size theater at its finest.
• Not a great start to the season for the St Louis Pioneers who dropped their first four, including back to back shutouts at the hands of the Gothams to start the season.
• Add another 5 hit game to the resume of Cleveland first baseman Bill Moore, who battered Cannons pitching for 5 hits including 3 doubles in a game last week. For the 28 year old who was named the greatest player in the first 25 years of AIAA ball, it was his first 5-hit game in the big leagues but he had previously turned the trick in the minors and college ball while at Lubbock State, for whom he was a 3-time first team All-American.
• The first week of play showed the Cincinnati Cannons they still have a lot of work to do in order to escape the malaise that engulfed the franchise in Baltimore. There was some positives to a 2-4 opening week highlighted by a terrific outing from Deuce Barrell. The 22 year old former first overall selection went the distance to beat Cleveland 4-2 on Wednesday for the first win for the club while based on Cincinnati. That one came on the road with the first win in Cincinnati being delayed until yesterday when William Jones outpitched Toronto ace Joe Hancock in a 2-1 victory to allow the Cannons to salvage the finale of their 3 game home opening series with the Wolves.
• Chubby Hall is making the statement he belongs in Washington. The 23 year old outfielder who the Eagles acquired from the Chicago Cougars organization over the winter seemed close to sticking with the big club but hit just .222 in spring camp and was farmed out to AAA Kansas City. Hall had a huge opening week with the baby Eagles, batting .421 with 3 homers and 9 rbi's in 5 games to capture the Century League player of the week award.

• Allied troops have reached key Nazi holding points in Norway and have began an offensive to chase the Nazi's from the Oslo and other major port cities. Meanwhile Germany claims it is carrying the air war to the British navy off the Norwegian coast saying a British battleship, three cruisers and a troop transport have been bombed by "bombs of the heaviest caliber." As the week progresses heavy fighting continues with the Allies making inroads in their land assault but the Nazis continue to inflict heavy damage on the British Navy.
• Captain Robert Losey, a military attache based out of Stockholm, became the first American killed on land since the European war started. He was killed by a German bombing raid in Dombas, Norway. He had reportedly been in Norway studying the performance of aircraft.
• Yugoslavia thwarts an attempt by the Nazis to overthrow it's government. Sources indicated that success of the plot had hinged on the entry of German troops into Yugoslavia.
• Tokio has warned belligerent Powers against seizure of 16 Norwegian and Swedish vessels which were chartered by Japanese shipping concerns before the outbreak of the European war.
• Convinced that Japan is rapidly expanding it's naval force Admiral Stark, chief of US Naval operations has asked a Senate Committee to authorize the United States to build the world's largest navy. The construction he proposed would cost well over $3.5 billion.
• President Roosevelt asked for $975 million to run WPA next year and simultaneously abandoned hope of getting from Congress the $460 million in new taxes requested in January.
• 33 were killed and hundreds more injured as the New York Central fast express train bound from New York to Chicago derailed on a wide curve near Little Falls, NY. It was the New York Central's first passenger fatality in 13 years.

April 29, 1940 Regular Season
 

APRIL 29, 1940

WOLVES OFF TO STRONG START

If you said the Toronto Wolves would have the top offense in the Continental Association after two weeks most would immediately assume that two-time Whitney Award winner Fred McCormick and highly touted sophomore third baseman Walt Pack were leading the way. However, that is not the case as while the Wolves lead the CA in runs scored and top the standings with a 10-3 record, neither McCormick nor Pack are off to a quick start. McCormick, who challenged the .400 mark all of last season before having to eventually settle for a .399 mark, has struggled at the dish through the first two weeks batting just .265 while Pack, who burst on to the scene last year with a .341 average and 13 homers in 86 games, has also had his troubles in the early going. The 25 year old third baseman is hitting just .150 on the season. Instead the offense in Toronto has come from the likes of outfielders Larry Vestal (.451,1,8) and Reginald Westfall (.342,0,5) with catcher Clarence Howerton (.273,1,9) also off to a great start. If those three can keep hitting just imagine how tough the Wolves will be once McCormick and Pack get going?

While offensive depth had been a concern there were no such worries about the Wolves pitching staff and so far Joe Hancock (1-1, 2.22), Bernie Johnson (3-0, 2.22) and Bob Walls (2-0, 1.10) have been terrific. The only weak spot in the rotation has perhaps been 22 year old George Garrison (1-2, 6.00) but his inflated era can primarily be attributed to a very rough debut outing against the Sailors. He bounced back from that last Monday by not allowing an earned run in 8 innings of a win over Cleveland but then struggled somewhat in a 7-4 loss to Cincinnati yesterday.

The defending champion New York Stars went 4-3 last week and now trail the front-running Wolves by 2 games with the 6-6 Chicago Cougars the only other team in the Continental to post at least a .500 record. Unfortunately for Cougars fans it appears the club is already back to their old ways with all three losses this past week coming in one run games. It will be tough to top the 16-21 record from last season, but they are already on the right track at 1-3 in such contests already.

The Federal Association has yet to separate itself at all with three teams, all very unlikely, in Philadelphia, the New York Gothams and the Chicago Chiefs sharing the top spot. The Keystones early success can be attributed to their offense led by veteran Bobby Barrell (.273,4,12) who is a big reason why the Keystones lead the Fed in homers and runs scored.

A bad sign in Pittsburgh as Jack Cleaves is hurt again. The 32 year old infielder suffered a sprained ankle that is expected to sideline him for two or three weeks. Cleaves, like several other Miners, has had more than his share of injuries since arriving in Pittsburgh from the Philadelphia Sailors three years ago. He was off to a great start as well, hitting .432 and was one of the few Miners hitters who did not have a sluggish start to the season.

QUICK HITS

• Gus Goulding has been outstanding and is a big reason the New York Gothams are tied for top spot, even with ace Nate Spear sidelined once again. Chicago scribe Percy Sutherland admits "I wasn't a huge fan of the deal from a New York perspective, but Goulding has been absolutely lights out, and so I don't mind eating my hat." Sutherland's comments came after witnessing Goulding, who was acquired from Cincinnati over the winter, and the Chiefs Al Miller square off in an entertaining pitchers duel last Monday at Whitney Park. Both pitchers had a game score of 73. The Gothams won 3-2 after manufacturing a couple of runs in the 7th.
• It was a different story when the Chiefs and Pioneers had a two game series over the weekend at Whitney. The bats were out in force: the Chiefs won the first game 12-4 and lost the 2nd 17-1.
• The Chiefs Cliff Moss homered last week vs Detroit. He is now 2 shy of 200 for his career and hard to believe but his total of 94 in Chicago is only 10 shy of the number of round-trippers he hit as a Montreal Saint.
• Bad news for the Saints as promising 24 year old righthander Bill Stewart is done for the year after suffering a serious arm injury last week. Taken in the third round way back in 1933 the Saints had lost Stewart briefly when Boston took him in the rule 5 draft a few years ago. He did not stick with the Minutemen and was returned to the Saints organization. Last season he made his big league debut and went 8-6 with a 3.74 era. Stewart's injury might open the door for top Montreal prospect Wally Doyle to get the call back to the big leagues. The 1936 first rounder struggled in a brief test with the Saints last year but pitched very well at AAA.
• Hard to find a hotter player that Saints outfielder Red Bond, who went 11-for-24 with a pair of homers in the past 7 games. That earned the 27 year old the nod as CA player of the week. On the year Bond (.438,5,11) is second in the CA in batting average and first in homers and rbi's. Philadelphia Keystones pitcher Herman Patterson was the Fed winner after tossing a pair of complete game shutouts in wins over Pittsburgh and Washington.
• The New York Stars are said to have some concerns about catcher Johnny Hopper as the 26 year old has started fairly slow but it is far too early to worry. Hub Parks (.276,0,3) has done a decent job as a full time outfielder but the Stars are discussing moving him from right field over to left where they feel he is a little more comfortable. There is plenty of scrutiny on the 26 year old who made his big league debut by playing 14 games last season as the club dealt away Moxie Pidgeon to Cincinnati to make room for Parks.
• The Cincinnati Cannons are excited to welcome Doug Lightbody in to the fold and timing is perfect with Joe Perret - their other old Brooklyn connection - battling a sore knee. Doug will debut at 1B for the Cannons this week and the hope is for him to reach the 2,000 hit plateau in a Cincinnati uniform. Arguably the greatest Brooklyn Kings hitter of all-time, The Mississippi Mouth is 59 shy of the 2000 mark. He leaves Brooklyn as the club's all-time leader in doubles, triples, career batting average and is second only to Ira Williams in hits as a King. The 36 year old former two time batting champion and 1927 Whitney Award winner was released by Brooklyn last week.
• A personal favourite called it quits recently. Topsy Moran, one of the original Kings during at the start of the human GM era has retired. He came to Brooklyn in a draft day trade in December of 1925 in what was during the first couple of sim weeks for us as human GMs. Rube Carter, the Kings scouting director at the time, was really high on the then 25 year old Moran as he was coming off back to back 19 win seasons in '24 and '25 - the first at AA and the second for AAA Buffalo. He threw a no-hitter for the Kings that first season but that was the only real highlight of his big league career. He went 12-10 that rookie season of 1926 and I had high hopes for him but they were dashed by a shoulder injury in late April 1927 that cost him the rest of that season. After the injury he would win just 15 more games in FABL and prior to the 1931 season opener I released him.
  Moran found a second life on the west coast, spending 9 seasons with independent Portland and helping the Green Sox win a pair of GWL titles. Counting his days in Buffalo he won 121 games at the AAA level, 83rd most all-time. His no-hitter in '26 was just the second in Kings history and no Brooklyn pitcher has thrown one since. Moran was just 29-34 but will be fondly remembered as one of my early favourites in Brooklyn.

• Two violent naval battles are waging for Norway in separate areas off the Swedish coast. There are also reports that Allied airplanes have inflicted heavy damage on the Oslo airport in a two and half hour long bombing barrage.
• German forces scored a major victory in Norway, driving British and Norwegian troops out of the key city of Steinkjer, which effectively cut off many British troops from their supply chain.
• Adolf Hitler officially declares war on Norway, saying the Reich had no choice but to invade as he claimed the Allies had deep-seated plans to invade Norway, which German intervention foiled "by a few hours." Hitler went on say the Allies had plans to occupy Norway in an effort to widen the war "to destroy Germany."
• In a radio address the former First Lord of British Admiralty, Alfred Duff-Cooper called for a war to the death against the whole German people and not merely against the Nazi regime. He was speaking on behalf of Winston Churchill, the current First Lord of Admiralty, and said German attacks upon Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark and Norway were "crimes of the whole people."
• One of the 15 defendants on trial for conspiracy to overthrow the United States government claims a Montana congressman was a member of the groups action committee and several Senators were also on intimate terms with the plot. Separate testimony indicated up to 175 New York City policemen were "ready to join the revolution" and that there were 300,000 men under arms in the United States to help in the scheme.

May 6, 1940 - Regular season
 

May 6, 1940

DETROIT PENNANT HOPES DEALT CRUEL BLOW

Terrible news out of Detroit this week as it was learned that reigning Allan Award winner Frank Crawford's season is over. Crawford, who will turn 32 years of age tomorrow, hurt his elbow in a game against Washington on Friday and the word is it is serious enough to sideline the two-time 20-game winner for a full calendar year. Ever since coming over from the Philadelphia Keystones prior to the 1938 season, Crawford has found a new gear in Detroit and has evolved into one of the best pitchers in the game. He won a career best 20 games in 1938 and then stepped it up even more last season with a 25-6 campaign in which he also led the Federal Association in era (2.58) and helped Detroit to a second consecutive second place finish. Crawford was 3-0 with a 1.93 era at the time of the injury this season but his absence now throws the Dynamos pennant hopes into much greater doubt than they were entering the week.

Just as they were last season, Detroit's offense was off to a slow start with star Sal Pestilli (.256,5,11) still hitting homers but his batting average and on base percentage were both down. While there are some positive signs like the starts Elmer Nolde (.354,3,12) and Red Johnson (.289,4,15) are enjoying there were a number of question marks led by terrible beginnings to the season for second sacker Ed Stewart (.177,2,8) and catcher John Wickland (.167,1,3).

The Detroit pitching, on the other hand, has been very good - well, at least the rotation as the relievers have had their share of troubles. To be more precise when discussing the success of the rotation one should say half the rotation, Crawford (3-0, 1.93) and Sergio Gonzales (4-1, 1.05) has been terrific but the two veterans acquired from Brooklyn at last year's trade deadline, lefty's Joe Shaffner (0-4, 5.21) and Mike Murphy (1-2, 4.25) have struggled.

While Detroit should get Charlie Wheeler back from a rehab stint in Newark this week, which will help ease the pitching worries, losing Crawford throws a large question mark on the rotation. The candidates to step in and fill the back of the rotation all have some big questions attached. 27 year old Mule Earl is one possibility and he looked decent in his lone outing this season, but Earl has had opportunities to start when he was with the New York Gothams and did not fare very well. Perhaps 36 year old Oscar Morse, another recent Gothams castoff who had some pretty solid seasons with the Sailors in the early to mid-1930s, can rediscover the touch he showed in his late twenties. Maybe the club dips into is shrinking pool of pitching prospects and pulls up Ed Whetzel from AAA. The 22 year old is a very highly touted 1936 5th round pick who is off to a 2-2, 3.03 start in his first taste of AAA. There is also Bill Anderson and Walter Murphy sitting in AAA. Both are veterans who were plucked off the waiver wire and have enjoyed big league success in the past although not recently.

To further compound the bad news for Detroit this week the Dynamos also lost outfielder Rip Curry for a couple of weeks. The 30 year old, who was just picked up from the Philadelphia Keystones, was hitting .385 in his first 9 games with the Dynamos before hurting his arm.

It is early but Detroit, at 9-11, is already 3.5 games back of the powerful Pittsburgh Miners and the Crawford injury likely tilts the balance of power in what was expected to be a very tight race between the two clubs, much more in Pittsburgh's favour.

Injury trouble also hit the Chicago Chiefs as they lost possibly the best catcher in the game in Tom Bird. The 32 year old will miss two or three weeks with a strained calf. Bird was hitting .345 with 4 homers and 12 rbi's on the season and joins third baseman Bob Martin on the Chiefs injury list. Concerns are growing about the 33 year old Martin, who hurt his elbow in spring training and has had his return date pushed back twice already. The latest word is Martin, who hit .311 last season but missed over a month with an injury, won't be able to make his debut this season until at least early June. In the meantime the Chiefs are trusting backup infielder Bill Jones (.268,1,7) to handle the duties at the hot corner while veteran reserve Tom Aiello will likely be called on to see a lot of action in Bird's absence.

Offense is normally not a big concern for the Chiefs and Hank Barnett, Cliff Moss and Bill May are certainly carrying the load in the early going but a renewed focus out of Rabbit Day and Al Miller plus some surprising outings from Red Hampton and George Thomas have Chief fans thinking there may just be something about even years. Chicago won it all in 1936 and 1938 and the Chiefs are battling for top spot in the early going again here in 1940.


Except for a bit of a stumble against suddenly hot Cincinnati, the Toronto Wolves continue to roll, especially the offense and Fred McCormick - after being called out for a slow start - certainly answered the bell with a big week that saw the 30 year old two-time Whitney Award winner go 11-for-25 to raise his season average from .265 to .324. Only an equally impressive 7 days from Chink Stickels of the New York Stars denied McCormick player of the week honours. The Stars have won 6 of 9 and are just a game and a half back of the front-running Wolves. As for the Wolves they seem to be back on track and performing like they did in 1938 - well at least until the collapse they suffered in the final week of that season, a collapse that seemed to continue through all of last year. The Wolves pitching is also continuing to perform with the exception of George Garrison. The Wolves seem on the verge of sending the highly touted 22 year old down to AAA, especially after a rough outing last week against Brooklyn that dropped Garrison's record to 1-3 with a 6.84 era.

The surprise team in the CA right now is the Cincinnati Cannons. Doug Lightbody had a huge impact with a big week after being claimed on waivers from Brooklyn and fellow vets Moxie Pidgeon, William Jones and Doc Love seem to have helped changed the losing attitude that had engulfed the franchise for close to a decade in Baltimore. Of course it is very early and odds are the Cannons will slip back to the second division so the question of the day in the CA will likely go back to can the Toronto Wolves sustain it for a full season and erase the stigma of having not won a pennant since 1911?

STEDMAN NOTCHES MILESTONE 200TH VICTORY

Earlier this season Rabbit Day of the Chicago Chiefs picked up his 250th career win but now the attention shifts to the active pitcher with the second most career victories as Charlie Stedman of the Pittsburgh Miners earned his 200th career victory this week. Stedman is 3-2 on the season and received an early birthday present (he turns 38 on Wednesday) with #200 coming in a 3-2 win at home over the Chicago Chiefs yesterday. The lefthander went the distance for the 182nd time in his 15 year career.

Just the 48th pitcher to win 200 games in his FABL career, Stedman has been pitching in the major leagues since 1926 when he broke in with Montreal. He also had stops with the New York Stars and Boston before joining the Miners in 1936. He won the Allan Award as a 27 year old with the Saints in 1929 following his first - and so far only - twenty victory season. Perhaps more than any other pitcher in recent years, Stedman has been the victim of poor run support and quite easily could have two or three more twenty-win seasons had the breaks gone his way which is why he has become known as "Hard Luck Chuck" around the league.

A Michigan native, Stedman went out west to play his college ball at Coastal California where his 18 career victories remain second in school history behind Howie Pike. In 1922 Stedman threw the first no-hitter in Dolphins history and a year later was selected in the first round by the Chicago Chiefs. He spent just one season in the Chiefs system, going 12-11 in A ball, before being dealt to the Montreal Saints. Stedman made his big league debut with the Saints in 1926 as a 24 year old with his Allan Award winning season in 1929 being the highlight of his career. Two years later he was dealt to the New York Stars and helped them win a World Championship Series in 1932. The Stars moved him to Boston in 1934 and after roughly two seasons with the Minutemen he was parceled off to Pittsburgh where he has been a workhorse for the Miners, starting 39 games each of his three full seasons with the club, making two all-star appearances and helping the Miners win a pair of Federal Association pennants.

MILESTONE WATCH

With Charlie Stedman earning his 200th career victory yesterday let's take a look at a few players closing in on milestones of their own.

2000 HIT CLUB

Several players are on the verge of joining the select group of those with 2,000 career major league hits. Long-time Philadelphia Keystones catcher Carl Ames is just 20 hits shy of becoming the fourth player to record at least 2,000 with the Keystones. The 37 year old, who has been with Philadelphia since 1925 is looking to join Zebulon Banks, Rankin Kellogg and Fred Roby as Keystones to reach that milestone. Of the other three, only Kellogg spent his entire career with the Keystones.

Bud Jameson of the New York Gothams is another closing in on the 2,000 hit mark who played exclusively with one team. The 36 year old has been relegated to reserve status in New York but hopes to join the 2,000 club sometime this season. Jameson presently sits 25 shy of that mark and is also just recently drove in his 1,000 rbi.

Jack Cleaves will certainly get to 2,000 at some point soon but he has to heal from a sprained ankle, which is presently sidelining the Pittsburgh Miners 32 year old infielder at the moment. Cleaves, who began his career with the Philadelphia Sailors as a 20 year old in 1927 before joining his brother George in Pittsburgh, sits at 1,961 hits presently.

Finally we have Doug Lightbody, who was recently signed by the Cincinnati Cannons after being waived by Brooklyn amd had a big week in his Cannons debut. The Mississippi Mouth had 10 hits in his first 6 games in a new uniform and is now just 49 shy of the 2,000 mark.

250 HOMERUNS

Bobby Barrell of the Philadelphia Keystones already has 5 round-trippers this season bringing his career total to 243 homeruns. When he gets there the 29 year old will become just the 9th player to reach 250. He is fourth among active players trailing Brooklyn's Al Wheeler (355), Lou Kelly of the Cougars (274) and Cincinnati's Moxie Pidgeon (255). Barrell is also just 18 runs shy of scoring 1,000 in his career. 81 players have preceded The Georgia Jolter in reaching that plateau as a major league player.

200 HOMERUS

Both Cliff Moss of the Chicago Chiefs and Detroit's Ed Stewart are closing in on 200. Stewart, who has 2 so far this season, and Moss, who has hit one, are each sitting at 198 presently.

FIRESIDE CHAT: MAKING A CASE FOR STEDMAN'S HALL OF FAME CHANCES

Charlie Stedman is closing out a terrific career and perhaps more than any other pitcher in the modern (human GM) era he has been the victim of poor run support, which perhaps kills his chances of getting the call to the Hall one day. Yesterday in Pittsburgh before the Miners 3-2 loss to the visiting Chicago Chiefs the prospects of Stedman's candidacy came up as TWIFB's Jiggs McGee, Dan Barrell of OSA, Chicago Herald-Examiner sports editor Percy Sutherland and Pittsburgh Press scribe Denton Fox each weighed in with some thoughts on what Stedman's legacy might be. Here is an edited transcript of that conversation:

JIGGS MCGEE - I really like (Charlie Stedman) but I think it will be tough for him considering some of the competition he likely will have. Rabbit Day clearly should be in and I like Lonardo, Ken Carpenter, Danny Goff, Jim Golden, Jim Cathay, Bob Johnston all as much or better than Stedman. Then there is Mose Smith, Bill Ross, Denny Wren, Willie Couillard also in that group right around him. Plus you have some of the 19th century guys to compete with and after a few years on ballot if he is not yet elected you have the next wave coming with guys like Tom Barrell, Fritz, Doc Newell, Frank Crawford, Dean Astle maybe finishing strong enough to warrant serious consideration.

DENTON FOX -I think Stedman makes it from sheer longevity. Higher career WAR than Day in less innings and starts. Identical K/BB ratio, lower FIP. Of course a lot of these are modern stats, and Day has 50 more wins than him. And I think Stedman blows Ken Carpenter out of the water.

JIGGS MCGEE - Guess it comes down to how much we factor in the lack of run support over Stedman’s career as right now even if he has another season or two and gets to 225 wins I am not sure a single 20-win season and 2 straight losing seasons on powerful Pittsburgh teams warrants serious consideration for his candidacy.

PERCY SUTHERLAND -(nods in agreement) I'm with Jiggs--I think Stedman is just on the outside.

JIGGS MCGEE - Thing is when I first started to look my thinking was Stedman should get in but afterthinking all of those other guys grouped around him it quickly changed my mind. A very good pitcher and clearly a victim of bad luck at times, but not quite a Hall of Famer. Although if he wins 20 a couple more times or at least plays key role in a couple more Miners pennants maybe he changes my mind back to a yes.

DENTON FOX - I also think William Jones (of the Cincinnati Cannons 175-126 overall) has an outside shot if he can manage to stay healthy another few years.

JIGGS MCGEE- Another good one right there in that mix perhaps.

PERCY SUTHERLAND - Particularly looking at Hard Luck Chuck with a 1930s lens--wins are the name of the game. Looking at him through a modern lens, and it's a different story. I'm not sure I dig OOTP's pitching WAR, but his FIP- is remarkably consistent. A little more luck, and some better clubs around him, he's right there with Day approaching 300 wins. And I'm a big Stedman fan.

DENTON FOX - I think it is difficult to be applying real world milestones to the league, and if we're voting in an ‘old-fashioned' way, I think keeping our eyes set at 3,000 and 300, were going to end up with an extremely small Hall down the line. Of course, that is the preference of some! So maybe it's just philosophical.

PERCEY SUTHERLAND -I am more of a "small Hall" guy, that's certain. And I've never liked the magical thresholds of 3,000, 300, and 500. But the raw numbers are important. If you look at the pitchers who have won at least 200 games, there are quite a few, and quite a few that will not be considered hall of fame candidates. To really insert yourself in the discussion a pitcher, you need to be at least around 250 wins, at least to me. Of course, Stedman has been pretty durable...maybe he gets to 240 - 250.

JIGGS MCGEE- (turning to Barrell) What do you think Danny? Been pretty quiet in all this.

DAN BARRELL - (looks up and puts his pen down from scouting the report he is writing) I'm also a "small Hall" guy and I would also say that Stedman's on the outside unless as Percy said he gets to 240-250 wins. He may get a hand in that direction as it sure seems a war is coming for all of us. It's unlikely he'd go to war at his age, so he might be able to stick around and pad those counting stats unless his arm falls off. He has thrown a lot of innings in his career.

A CASE FOR CHARLIE STEDMAN

After hearing others discuss the merits of Charlie Stedman's worthiness for the Hall of Fame, Chicago Daily News sports editor Archie Irwin devoted today's column to making a pitch for the soon to be 38 year old's inclusion in Boone County.
At first I was thinking no to Charlie Stedman, I'm a fan of a small hall, but I think I'm starting to lean more towards him being worthy. He has a nice 7-year peak (1928-1934), something I like to use to rate players for the Hall, and arguably a second one from 1935-1940 if he keeps up his elite performance this season. These last four seasons really helped him, as he likely had no shot, but he's been worth 28.8 WAR win the Miners and 82.5 overall. And there are very few active players with a better career ERA+ then his 121. It's really just Dean Astle (123), Jim Lonardo (124), Lefty Allen (133), and Rabbit Day (126), all pretty worthy of election.

I think counting stats are way overrated for hall voting, you shouldn't be rewarded just for playing a long time, what's more important is the quality of the innings you pitch. Besides, if you assume the average pitcher is .500, with his ERA+ accounted he should have won 232 games, and easily in striking distance of 250. If you change his end win total, and no other stats, to 250+, I think there's no one who would want to keep him out.

Besides, some of his individual years have just been insane. 1929 he was 21-10 with a 2.99 ERA (153 ERA+), 1.25 WHIP, 77 walks, and 121 strikeouts in 273.2 innings. 1934 he was just 14-11, but with a 3.19 ERA (145 ERA+), 1.26 WHIP, 61 walks, and 128 strikeouts. If he wasn't so poor with the Stars before the trade to Boston (where he had a 191 ERA+, 1.26 WHIP, 61 walks, and 128 strikeouts in 19 of the 30 starts), he probably would have won the Allen.

And 1937-1939, it's hard to find a better pitcher, sure the 45-53 record sucks, but his lowest inning total was 296.2 and he had a 3.40 ERA, 1.39 WHIP with 443 strikeouts, He's also been worth 5 or more WAR 10 times, I'd imagine he's in a class of his own discounting the deadball guys who threw 300+ innings and Rabbit Day, who also has 10. But I think Stedman has more left in the tank and may end up with more.

Also, we let Big George Johnson in, but arguably the only thing he did better then Stedman was win more games. He was worth 83.1 wins above replacement in 4,811.2 innings, Stedman is at 82.5 with 1,000 less innings. Johnson had just a 116 ERA+, 1.28 WHIP, and a higher BB/9 (3.0 to 2.7) with the same K/9 (3.9). He had 9 seasons of 5 WAR or greater, but those came in 318.2 or more innings each time, with Stedman's only 300 inning season coming last year when he was worth 9.2 WAR in 319.2 innings, You know how many times Johnson was worth 9 or more WAR? None. He only got to 8.8 in 416.2 innings. If we let Johnson in, how can we keep Stedman out? Or how can we keep him out other then looking strictly at wins?

QUICK HITS

• Chicago Daily News sports editor Archie Irwin weighed in with one final thought on Charlie Stedman. "I still can't believe he lost 20 games on a 94 win pennant team (Pittsburgh last year), but won 21 games on a .500 Saints team."
• Break up the Cannons! The traditional doormat of the Continental Association moved not only to Cincinnati but also to the first division. It has been a while since the franchise won 5 straight games as they did this week and they are the hottest team in baseball with wins in 9 of their last 11. The Cannons time in the first division is unlikely to last but the veteran presence they have added has certainly helped so far. Moxie Pidgeon hit 3 more homers this week and leads the CA in homers while also tied for the rbi lead. William Jones has been outstanding and looks like he is back on track after a tough season last year. And Doug Lightbody provided an instant spark after coming over from Brooklyn thru waivers.
• Pinky Conlan is hurt again. Possibly out for the year and perhaps spells the end of his big league days. Injuries were the reason that made it fairly easy for the Cannons to waive him and his stay on the St Louis roster was very brief.
• Speaking of injury prone, Cleveland loses Earl Robinson likely for the duration of the season. Plenty of promise, top 25 prospect, threw a no hitter in the minors but so many injuries and still just 24 years old.
• More bad news on the mound for the New York Gothams. They get Nate Spears back but now Bob Adams goes down. The Gothams couldn't keep both of them healthy last year and now they once again have to start up the pitching carrousel. Speaking of which, the train from Toledo will be crowded. New York is going to try kick starting its offense with some outfield moves and also the more anticipated promotion. Pete Casstevens is on his way to Queens. After hitting .426 with 5 homers at Toledo Pete will be making his debut in New York.
• Do not sleep on the Chicago Chiefs. It is an even numbered year after all. The Chiefs current run differential is -4, but that's skewed a bit by the two losses at the end of April by combined score of 23-2.
• Tough week for the Montreal Saints who lost 7 straight before righting the ship slightly with a 10-4 win in Cleveland yesterday. Another rough start for Wally Doyle as well with the 21 year old losing 6-2 in his debut this season against Cincinnati. The highly touted prospect is now 0-5 with a 6.30 era in 14 career big league appearances but 22-6 with a 3.01 era in AAA.

• The capture of Dombaas, a vital railway junction, by advancing German troops was announced. Nazi forces now control the main rail connection from Oslo to Trondheim. Britain has conceded setbacks on land and in the air in Norway after 13 British subs were sunk in a single day. Germany also sunk one of the mightiest vessels of the British navy - a 30,000 ton battleship of the Queen Elizabeth class - off Norway's west coast.
  https://i.imgur.com/goFocgU.jpg
• By the end of the week the Prime Minister Chamberlain announces that the Allies have abandoned their central Norwegian base and are turning their fleet towards the eastern Mediterranean to prepare for lightning German thrusts which may come in the Balkans or even upon Britain herself. Despite moving the might of their naval forces, Chamberlain assured Commons that Norway was not to be a mere "sideshow" but many in British parliament were unhappy with the decision and the results in Norway.
• Hitler and Mussolini assured the Yugoslav Government that any fears of aggression by their countries against the Balkan States are groundless. Those assurances seemed to produce a feeling of greater security in southeastern Europe, especially in Yugoslavia where there had been much tension recently over the possibility of an Italian thrust.

May 13, 1940 - Regular Season
 

May 13, 1940

CANNONS FIND TRUMP CARD, AND IT'S A 'DEUCE'

It has been a long time since anyone said this but the hottest team in the Continental Association is the Cannons. The club, which spent the past six seasons in the basement of the CA and has not had a winning year since 1931, reeled off 10 straight victories before falling to Philadelphia on Saturday. The Cannons reloaded quickly Sunday and blasted the Sailors 10-2 and now sit 9 games over .500. There are no official records available but it is believed to be the first time the club has been that far above the breakeven mark since that previously mentioned 1931 campaign.

There are certainly a number of reasons one can attribute to the early success in Cincinnati but standing in the forefront has to be the imposing figure of lefthander Rufus 'Deuce' Barrell II. Just 22 years of age, Barrell has had to deal with immense expectations so grand they tower over even his 6'4" frame. Drafted first overall after posting out of this world high school numbers, Barrell has long been counted on to be the saviour of the Cannons franchise. He had a rough big league debut in 1938, posting a 1-9 mark and a 6.15 era as a 20 year old but started to show promise with a 15 win season last year. Now in Cincinnati he, like most of the Cannons young pitchers seems to have taken a step forward under the tutelage of Hall of Fame pitching coach George Johnson. Barrell is 4-1 with a 3.21 era and riding a string of starts in which he has logged 3 straight complete game victories while surrendering just 2 runs in each of them.

Johnson seems to also be working his magic with the rest of the Cannons pitching staff. Veteran William Jones (3-2, 2.74) looks fully recovered from his struggles and injuries last season and Rusty Petrick (2-2, 3.71), another first round pick who had struggled in Baltimore is, at least for now, finally enjoying some success. The presence of legendary manager George Theobald also seems to have had a calming effect on the club and the veteran presence of Moxie Pidgeon (.360,5,22), Doc Love (.388,0,9) and Jack Flint (.315,1,7) combined with what is starting to look like a breakout season for 24 year old center fielder Fred Galloway (.387,1,20) has the Queen City buzzing and baseball fans in Baltimore lamenting the loss of their club even more.
Should be a fun series coming up starting Thursday when the Philadelphia Keystones visit Chicago for a 3-game set with the Chiefs. The two teams are the hottest in baseball right now as each is riding a 7 game winning streak and the Chiefs, at 18-8, are half game up on the Keystones for top spot in the Federal Association.

The Chiefs did not miss a beat last week despite the absence of star catcher Tom Bird. Veteran Tom Aiello took over and all he did was hit .333 in 7 games last week as the Chiefs looked very impressive with 2 wins over both Pittsburgh and Washington followed by a 3-game weekend sweep of the slumping Gothams....and all 7 wins came on the road, where the Chiefs at 13-5 have the best record in either association.

The Keystones started the week with two extra innings wins over the Gothams before beating Detroit in a pair of games by identical 7-3 scores and finishing up with a sweep of the Boston Minutemen over the weekend.


It is not quite the point in the season where the men have truly been separated from the boys, but if the first month of play is any indication, the preseason positivity around the Keystones has been well-placed. The Keystones ran the table last week and their winning streak has reached seven to cap their homestand with a 10-3 record, outscoring the opposition by a count of 39-23.

A five-city, 12-game road trip awaits to such exotic locales as Chicago, Detroit, and Boston, with St. Louis and New York mixed in. Speaking of Chicago, the Chiefs have matched the Keystones for the moniker of the Hottest Team in Baseball on the heels of their own seven-game winning streak. The Chiefs still own a half-game edge in the Federal Association, but the Keystones will have a chance to be listed first in the paper with a mid-week three-game set in the Loop.

The reason why the Keystones are where they are is their pitching and their power. To date, Philadelphia leads the Fed in team earned-run average (2.90), including the E.R.A. of their starting pitchers (2.82), hits allowed (199), and strikeouts (148). The five starting pitchers have accounted for over 82 per-cent of the total innings hurled by the Keys. They are still a bit wild, issuing the second-most walks in the league, but it has not hurt them because opposing hitters only have a .214 batting average. Herman Patterson (1.66 E.R.A.) has taken that next step, leading a group of three with an E.R.A. below three. Patterson, who has been wild in the past, has cut his free passes down to two per nine innings to led the rotation, and his seven strikeouts per nine innings is also the best of the quintet.

At the plate, the Keys pace the circuit in bases-per-at-bat (.407) and second in hits for multiple bases (75) and home runs (26). Bobby Barrell and Hank Koblenz are tied for second place in home runs with six, one behind the leader, Detroit's Sal Pestilli. Koblenz has hit well (.304) to start, but it has given Keystone brass enough confidence to continue their plan of moving top prospect Davey Robicheaux around the diamond, trying him in leftfield and rightfield.

The hitters have also put the pressure on opposing fielders, as they strike out fewer than any other team in the Fed (89). A good example of this is the hitting of Billy Woytek. His work ethic is tireless and while his collar is blue, his aim is true. Hardscrabble Philadelphia fans have taken to "Blue Collar" Billy and he has obliged with a .327 batting average, never giving up on at-bats and striking out three times in 101 times up.

QUICK HITS

• How much longer will we have to wait to see two of the Schneider triplets in the big leagues? Pitcher Bart Schneider had a great start at Class C and is looking just as dominant through 2 appearances at Class A in the Foresters chain. The 19 year old is still has some seasoning before he will be ready but his two infield playing brothers are both tearing the cover off the ball at AAA and it should be just a matter of time before both are in the majors. Buddy is hitting .368 through 24 games for Boston's AAA affiliate in Columbus while Skipper is off to an even hotter start at Milwaukee. The Cougars pick is batting .393 for the Blues.
• I would suggest that Buddy should be in Boston right now and only a poor showing this spring kept him from opening the season with the Minutemen. However, Boston has John Wood playing 2B and while he did have some great numbers with the bat in limited play last year he looks to me like an average player at best and his defense is also just average or slightly below at 2B and terrible as a SS. Yes, Buddy Schneider did have a bad spring but he hit very well in AAA last year and is even better so far this time around. Plus he looks like a huge upgrade with the glove over Wood.
• The Cougars have a logjam in the middle of the infield but are said to be shopping Ollie Page to make room for Skipper Schneider. It will be interesting when Skipper does get to the Windy City as the Cougars will have a choice to make with him, Billy Hunter and veteran Freddie Jones. Skipper certainly appears to be a better defender than the 25 year old Hunter so does that mean Hunter replaces Jones at second or does he go to the bench?
• No surprise here as the Chicago Cougars post another 3-3 week. Chicago columnist Archie Irwin summed it up best saying the Cougars "are the poster child for mediocrity." At 12-12 on the season and surfing between 3rd and 5th place each of the past three years the Cougars seem to have all the talent in the world but just can't quite put things together. Veteran Jim Lonardo (1-4, 3.80) finally got his first win of the season this week, beating the Stars 3-2. Aside from one very rough start in Cleveland, Lonardo has pitching well enough to win but just hasn't been getting the breaks. Much like the Cougars themselves.
• The New York Stars are suddenly reeling after dropping six of their last 7 games. Management is blaming the slump on a slumbering offense but don't count Dave Trowbridge as one of the sleepy. The 41 year old had another solid week and is among the CA leaders with a .352 average this season.
• Odds are it likely won't last but the Cincinnati Cannons have already given notice to their Continental Association foes that they are no longer the punching bag that was the woeful Baltimore Cannons. Contending for first place all year is likely well beyond the Cannons reach but the way they have started the season perhaps they have a shot at finishing in the first division for the first time in 9 years.
• It's not just the big league club in Cincinnati that is prospering. There Union League AAA affiliate Indianapolis Hoosiers are off to a 19-5 start to the season. Prize prospect Vic Carroll, Art Edwards and Jim Anderson all make their ‘pitch’ to be in the Cincinnati rotation. OF Mike Taylor was sent down after a slow start with the big club but is now hitting .392 in AAA. C Joe Rainbow and young 3B prospect Denny Andrews also appear close to ready as well.
• More injury woes for the Pittsburgh Miners as shortstop Johnny Guzzo and catcher George Cleaves are the latest victims of the Pittsburgh injury bug. Guzzo (.298,3,12) is expected to miss a month while Cleaves (.297,2,12) has a sore back but insists he is capable of playing through the injury.
• Not only have the New York Gothams lost 9 of their last 10 games but they also lost a piece of their Million Dollar Infield for at least 3 weeks. Billy Dalton (.259,2,7) suffered a fractured foot after being hit by a Jack Beach pitch in a 4-1 loss to the Chicago Chiefs on Friday.
• Congrats to Pepper Tuttle (2-2, 2.53) on his first career shutout in the Philadelphia Keystones 2-0 win over Boston yesterday. It was a 3-hit gem from the 24 year old who also fanned 8 while not allowing a free pass. Tuttle was a 4th round pick of Brooklyn back in 1933 out of Hartford High School. That 1933 graduating class of pitchers was a very famous one as Tuttle's teammates that season were Al Miller and John Edwards, who both were selected in the first round. Edwards by the way, pitched in the same series but went Friday for the Minutemen in a game they also lost to the red-hot Keystones.
• Another slow start for Al Wheeler in Brooklyn. Batting just .238 but even more concerning is a .321 slugging percentage with just 1 homer. But he has had slow starts before and ended up ok although after a down year last season perhaps there should be cause for concern in Brooklyn about the 32 year old. The Kings are the only CA team yet to hit double-digits in wins but you can't fault Harry or Tom Barrell for the club's early struggles. Harry is once again playing stellar defense at SS and his .297 average is right in line with what he has done the last 3-4 years. Tom is 3-3, 3.55 but took a couple tough losses including a 2-1 complete game defeat by the Stars.
• Toronto keeps rolling and Fred McCormick (.378,0,8) is now firing on all cylinders. This week he went 13-for-24 (.542) and was named the CA player of the week. Pittsburgh's Pablo Reyes (.375,2,20) got the nod in the Fed.

• After being branded a failure following defeat in Norway during a violent House of Commons debate that included one member claiming "nothing would contribute more to victory in the war against Germany than the resignation of the Prime Minister," Chamberlain does just that and steps down. Winston Churchill agrees to replace him as Prime Minister.
• Hitler, proclaiming the beginning of a fight which "decides the fate of the German nation for the next 1,000 years," hurled his forces into the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg.
• The Nazis also take the fight directly to the Allies home turf, as the German air force bombed at least seven French towns and cities. Paris was spared but Pointoise, 42 miles away was shelled.
• As the week progressed the Germans threw a full division of troops against French forces just east of the Moselle River in what French military sources termed the "first great attack of the war."
• A daring German attempt involving 20 armed soldiers to capture and kidnap the Queen of Holland and key government officials failed in The Hague.
• President Roosevelt says nothing has changed with respect to the possibilities of the United States keeping out of Europe's war. While FDR admitted concern with reports the Germans had reneged on a pledge not to bomb open unfortified towns, he adds the United States has no changes planned for it's status at the time.
• The US has stepped up patrols over the Dutch West indies in order to prevent any attempts by German sea raiders or submarines to destroy the valuable oil properties there.

May 20, 1940
 

May 20, 1940

CHIEFS SWEEP KEYSTONES: LEAD NOW 3 IN FED

The Chicago Chiefs remain the hottest team in baseball after sweeping the Philadelphia Keystones in a 3-game series between the top two clubs in the Federal Association. The Chiefs, who won World Championship Series titles in 1936 and 1938 but finished a disappointing 5th last season, have caught fire in May with a 14-4 record. They had an 11-1 run going before falling 4-1 at home to Washington yesterday in the opener of a 3 game series.

Pitching has played a key rule in Chicago's rebound front last season's stumble as the Chiefs have allowed the fewest runs against in either Association. Rabbit Day (5-1, 2.36) and Al Miller (5-2, 2.80) are both looking like they did in each of the title winning seasons but it is the sudden emergence of Red Hampton (5-1, 1.59) that has the city buzzing. The 33 year old Hampton did win 17 games back in 1934 but he really has not been much more of an afterthought in the Chicago rotation since then. He did start 22 games for the Chiefs last season but was considered to be barely an average level pitcher. He had a couple of rough outings in the spring this year but as soon as the season started he has been lights out, beginning with two very strong wins to start his season over St Louis and the New York Gothams, then continuing with 3 straight complete game victories including a 3-0 shutout of the Boston Minutemen last week. Hampton is not the only pleasant surprise on the mound for Chicago manager Joe Ward this season. Charlie Bingham (4 sv,0.00) has been outstanding out of the pen and former Montreal Saint George Thomas (4-3, 3.51) has looked much better this season than the 30 year old did in his Federal Association debut last year.

Offense has seldom been a concern in Chicago and this season is no different. Lead-off man Bill May (.376,2,19) leads the Fed in both batting average and stolen bases while Cliff Moss (.333,5,16) and Hank Barnett (.296,6,18) have been their usual solid self. Perhaps it should come as no surprise considering the the Chiefs management team's connection to Montreal but each of those three players were originally Saints draft picks. One other very pleasant surprise is a homegrown Chief in Bill Jones (.336,3,15) as the third baseman has greatly eased the pain of being without Bob Martin, who has been sidelined since spring camp with elbow issues.

The Chiefs lead is 3 games on Pittsburgh and 3.5 on the Philadelphia Keystones. The Keystones being in the hunt for the top spot in mid-May was an even bigger surprise than the Chiefs, but Chicago burst Philadelphia's bubble starting Thursday afternoon at Whitney Park. That was the day of the series opener and Jack Beach got the call on the mound to start for the Chiefs. Beach (1-1, 1.59) has certainly had his ups and downs of late but the 38 year old has been another one of those pitchers coming up big for the Chiefs this season and he did just that on this occasion. Beach allowed just 2 hits through 6 and 2/3 innings as early homeruns by Moss and May gave him a comfortable lead in a game that the Chiefs would waltz to a 7-1 victory. Had the Keystones prevailed they would have overtaken the Chiefs for first place but after Rabbit Day shut them out 8-0 the next day and Al Miller had a solid Saturday outing in a 4-2 win the Keystones were suddenly 3.5 games back and wondering what happened.

CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION
There was a key showdown in the Continental Association last week as well as the front-running Toronto Wolves opened the week with 3 games in New York against the third place Stars. The Stars took the series, winning a pair of 1-run games while the Wolves grab the middle game of the set by an 11-3 count. New York gave back any gains they made by dropping two of three over the weekend so the week ended with Toronto still a game up on the surprising Cincinnati Cannons with the defending champs 4.5 games back.

AIAA ALL-AMERICAN TEAM ANNOUNCED

A pair of New York Stars January draft picks highlight the college baseball All-American teams, which were announced this week. Newt Cooper, an outfielder from American Atlantic that the Stars selected with the first pick of the second round, was named to the first team while Hamman College pitcher Don Bitters, who is one of the finalists for the Frank Christian Trophy, was a second team selection. Bitters was selected by the Stars with the final pick of the second round, 32nd overall. Only seven 1940-draft eligible players were named to the two squads highlighted by Lane State pitcher Bill Sohl, who made the first team and was chosen by the Cincinnati Cannons 2nd overall in January. Sohl is also one of the finalists for the Christian Trophy following a 10-4 season for the Emeralds.

Boston State catcher Tucker Ness, who was selected 9th overall by the St Louis Pioneers, was the other drafted player to make the first team while St Patrick's shortstop Tom Landowski was named to the second team. He had been drafted by Brooklyn with the 13th overall pick in January. A pair of first team selections are eligible for the June phase of the draft after not being selected in the winter portion. They are Wisconsin State first baseman Rube Townsend (.306,10,51) and City College of Los Angeles outfielder Vern Wilson, who led the nation with 17 homers this season.

Here are the 1940 All-Americans and their draft status:

CHRISTIAN TROPHY NOMINEES

Three pitchers highlight the list of 5 players who have been named finalists for the 1940 Frank Christian Trophy, awarded annually to the nation's top college baseball player. In alphabetical order the five are as follows:

DON BITTERS -Senior at Hamman (WV) (Good Competition)- 12-3, 2.44. Just the fourth pitcher (including feeders) to ever win 12 games in a college season. Second in nation in ERA, third in FIP. Second in strikeouts with 126 but 6th in K/9 at 8.3. Top in pitching WAR at 4.9.

ERNIE McCOY- Freshman at Bluegrass State(Great) - .314,9,49 Led all AIAA hitters in WAR, 2nd in OBP and wOBA, 7th in batting average. Played vs Great competition.

BILL SOHL - Junior at Lane State (Great) 10-4, 2.60 Third in ERA but first among those who played vs Great competition. Tied for second in wins but first among those who played Great competition. fifth overall in FIP and K's with 119.

VERN WILSON - Junior at CC Los Angeles (Great). -.268,17,56 Only Ockie Holliday ever hit more homeruns in a non-feeder league AIAA season than the 17 socked by Wilson. He was second in the AIAA in RBI's and 8th in slugging percentage. Played vs Great competition.

GEORGE WYNN- Junior at Willamette Valley College (Fair) 8-3, 2.13 era. 11.2 K/9 which is tied for second best in the non-feeder era with Harry Sharp (1939) and behind only Al Jones of Central Ohio's 1935 total of 11.5. His 2.13 era is also third lowest all-time in non-feeder era, trailing Sharp (1.92) and Bunny Edwards (2.10 in 1936). Ranked third this season in K's at 121, first in FIP, first in ERA and fourth K/BB ratio. Were his numbers strong enough to warrant consideration despite the fact unlike other nominees he played vs just fair competition?

QUICK HITS

• St Louis Pioneers supporters can't help but feel BNN is playing a cruel joke on them. The league news service pegged the Pioneers to finish second this season, just two games back of Detroit but at 11-21 and 11 games out already St Louis has the worst record in the big leagues.
• Philadelphia has looked exceptional at home, posting a 15-4 record at Broad Street Park - which is the best home mark in either Association at the moment. However, they are a mess on the road right now with 10 losses in 14 game which is the worst road mark in either Association. Bad news for Keystones fans is they remain on the road this week with 6 more games on enemy turf before finally returning home a week from today.
• Chiefs manager Joe Ward on Red Hampton: "When I took over in Chicago, Red Hampton was arguably the Chiefs ace (he was 17-10 in 1934). We upgraded the rotation over the next few seasons (adding Miller, Bingham, Day, Beach, among others) and Red Hampton was slowly pushed to the side. He would occasionally have a stretch of games that were ace-quality, but he's never had a run like what he is on now. I just hope he can keep it up." Hampton's only clunker this season was a loss in Boston in which he gave up 6 runs on 12 hits over 7 innings. He atoned for that last week by shutting out the Minutemen in Chicago.
• In two starts for the Chicago Chiefs Earl Killebrew has given up 7 home runs. That's over half of the team's total of 13 allowed. Guess the Chiefs now know why the New York Gothams gave up on the 27 year old righthander.
• Hampton's big effort for Chicago was the same game the Minutemen lost Mike Lee (1-2, 2.34) for the season after blowing out his shoulder. It is the first injury of the 24 year old former second round pick's career. Boston may be active in the trade market for a replacement as there are doubts if the club feels ready to promote either of their top two pitching prospects as both 24 year old Duke Hendricks (3-4, 5.05) and 23 year old Ray Dalpman (1-4, 5.18) are struggling at AAA Columbus.
• Last year the big story in Boston was the breakout season of Bob Donoghue. The 26 year old first baseman (.264,5,16) is still hitting the ball well despite a couple of nicks this season but he is finally being joined by Mack Sutton as a power bat in the Boston lineup. The 23 year old Sutton (.323,6,18) looks like a completely different player from the one who had his first full season a year ago. Sutton had power last year (20 HR) but hit just .235. The other Boston youngster our season preview issue said needed a breakout year is 23 year old catcher Bill Van Ness (.272,2,12) and he also seems to be trending in the right direction.
• Boston also has Chick Donnelly (.301,0,20) enjoying a fine season. Donnelly was named Federal Association player of the week for the third time in his career after going 14-for-29 with 7 rbi's in his last 6 games.
• A solid big league debut week for Buddy Schneider with the Boston Minutemen. The first of the 19 year old Schneider triplets to make the big leagues, Buddy had the thrill of lacing an extra base hit in his big league debut. It was a big one too, as Schneider faced Chicago's George Thomas with 2 on and 2 out in the top of the first inning last Tuesday. He laced a two bagger to drive in two runs in a game the Minutemen would win 5-4. By the end of the week Buddy was 6-for-26 with a pair of doubles and 3 runs scored in his first 6 games. He also looked well above average in the field at second base.
• Buddy might have the family bragging rights of getting to the bigs first but Skipper is right behind him as the Chicago Cougars announced the #25 prospect will make his FABL debut this week. Due to Rich Langton's early season struggles and the injuries to both Carlos Montes and Leon Drake, Skipper Schneider gets the call. He will mainly play right field, despite spending all but 11 of his minor league innings at short, but will also get a few games at short. He'll hit 8th against lefties and righties, but will get the occasional day off against southpaws. It's uncertain how he'll do in the outfield grass, but he is expected to be one of the games best defensive shortstops.
• In all seven games this week, Cougar starting pitcher went 9 or more innings. If it wasn't for a 10th inning win over the Foresters that was finished by Joe Brown, the Cougars rotation would have pitched every single inning of the week.
• The Cincinnati Cannons made a trade this week in order to clear room for Mike T Taylor to return to the big leagues. Taylor, who turns 22 tomorrow, was dominant in his stint with Baltimore last season. He hit .364 with 8 homers and 43 rbi's in just 51 games with the Cannons but after a slow start to the season and the off-season additions of Moxie Pidgeon, Doc Love and Joe Perret, Cannons brass sent him to Indianapolis to get his confidence back. Mission accomplished as Taylor tore the cover off the ball in AAA, hitting to the tune of a .443 average, and will be back in the Cannons lineup this week. To make room veteran outfielder Whit Williams was dispatched to Pittsburgh for a 10th round pick. Williams had been a Cannons regular the past 5 seasons but saw his playing time drastically cut this season and was batting just .188 in 35 plate appearances.
• To clear a spot for Williams the Miners have announced that 34 year old Cy Bryant will be waived. Bryant has played nearly 1100 FABL games and his strength has always been his defense, in his 20's he was one of the better defensive CF in baseball. Seasons of +18.2, +17.5, +23.4, +12.4, 15.6 ZR in center from '31-'35. He's been a steady, if unspectacular hitter, .289 in 3,976 at bats. Bryant's claim to fame will always be he was the Most Valuable Player of the very first FABL all-star game, played in 1933.
• While pitching is a worry in Detroit right now after the injury to Allan Award winner Frank Crawford, the Dynamos continue to have the most imposing group of power hitters in baseball. Sal Pestilli (.254,7,16) leads the way with Frank Vance (.341,6,19), Red Johnson (.305,5,19), Alf Pestilli (.229,4,21) and Elmer Nolde (.262,4,14) also providing plenty of power. Imagine how dangerous the Detroit lineup might be if Hank Koblenz was still in the Motor City. He was a top prospect when he was dispatched to the Keystones in the deal that netted Crawford for Detroit. 'Hard Boiled Henry' is now 23 and in his first full season in the majors is batting .300 while tied with Sal for the homerun lead at 7.
• Cannons fans have to be wondering what Moxie Pidgeon needs to do to win a player of the week award. Pidgeon continued his outstanding play with 3 HR and 11 RBI last week to go with a .417 average. On the season he is hitting .373 with a FABL leading 33 rbi and tied with Red Bond for the homer lead at 8. He lost the POW this time to Cleveland's Mel Carrol, who hit .538. The previous week was also a big one for Pidgeon but Fred McCormick of Toronto claimed the award that time.
• Looks like Dixie Lee (3-3, 2.47) is finally finding his groove in his debut season with the New York Stars after coming over from St Louis. Despite a rough start and a couple close losses he is doing well. 5 quality starts in 6 games including 2 shutouts. Pitching overall looks decent from the Stars staff but Vern Hubbard (2-3, 5.97) is struggling. Bullpen has only seen modest use. On the offensive side the Stars feel they just have 3 position players really weighing them down right now. When nearly half your lineup isn't hitting, you cant expect to win no matter how good the pitching is. Hub Parks (.257,1,7), Clark Car (.250,0,10) and catcher Johnny Hopper (.184,0,11) need to get it together.
• Parks is especially feeling the heat from fans at Dyckman Stadium. Moxie Pidgeon was dealt to the Cincinnati Cannons to make room for the 26 year old rookie and while Pidgeon is leading the CA in homers and rbi's Parks has been struggling to find his footing.
• The AIAA season came to a close this week and it was a very nice year for New York Stars draftee Don Bitters. The Hamman University senior pitcher went 12-3 to become just the fourth college pitcher to win 12 games in a season. He joins Phil Gregg from Redwood University in 1934 and Cal Roe of Valley State, who did it in 1936. Gregg pitched briefly for the Stars last season but is now with Independent Richmond while Roe is in AAA in the Pioneers system. The only other college pitcher to win 12 games in a season is current Brooklyn King Bob Cummings. He went 12-1 for College of San Diego as a freshman in 1931 and in doing so became the only college feeder league pitcher to win a dozen in a year.
• George Wynn of Williamette Valley College had a strong showing in his first and only season of AIAA ball. Wynn finishes with a 2.13 career era (although in just the 1 season). That places him third all-time for career AIAA era behind Huck Moore (Commonwealth Catholic 1925-27) 1.65 and Harry Sharp (Red River State 1939) 1.92. Wynn was selected 8th overall by Montreal in January.
• Among AIAA hitters only the career stolen base total of Ed Sullivan from Central Illinois cracks a top ten list. The junior shortstop swiped 117 bases in his three seasons with the Condors. Only Maryland State's Spud Bent (151) stole more as a college player while Cal Holmes, who played for Lane State from 1935-37 also ended up with 117. Sullivan was not selected in January so remains eligible next month.
• I think we have found the first overall draft pick next January. We have known about Hiram Steinberg for two years now as in 1938 the freshman righthander at New York City's Washington High School was 12-0 with a 0.65 era and 203 strikeouts in 124 innings of work. He posted similar numbers as a sophomore and this season the 17 year old junior nicknamed "The Undertaker" just buried opposing hitters with a national high school record 222 strikeouts and a 0.23 ERA, which is the best single season mark ever recorded. When he is done Steinberg is expected to own each of the major single season and career high school pitching marks.

• New British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned Parliament that "without victory there is no survival" either for the British Empire or what it represents. In a passionate speech Churchill said his mission is to "wage ware by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God give us" against "a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime."
• Estimates indicate that fully one quarter of the Dutch army, over 100,000 men, are dead as the Nazi offensive continues.
• Allied troops were forced to retreat from Brussels and the British public was warned that the military situation is "extremely grave."
• By the weekend Antwerp had fallen while to the south German forces thundered to within 60 miles of Paris. Heavy attacks by Nazi warplanes against Allied troops already reeling back under the impact of German ground attacks have turned the Allied withdrawal into a retreat which "at a number of places resembled a rout."
• The French government, striving to combat Germany's admitted superiority in the air on the western front, has ordered a 12-hour work day for all aviation industries.
• President Roosevelt decided to put his Administration's full force behind efforts to speed deliveries of American made war planes to the hard hit Allies, calling for an increased pace to complete delivery of more than 4,000 plans which Britain and France have ordered since the war started.
• Roosevelt asks Congress to recommend more money for national defense, over $1 billion more after stressing just how vulnerable the United States might be to attack from air.
• Roosevelt also held a Council of War, an emergency meeting of top officials to map defenses against what the White House described as a four-alarm fire sweeping towards the New World.
  https://i.imgur.com/9XkwoWP.jpg

May 27, 1940
 

May 27, 1940

CHARGING CANNONS CLIMB CONTINENTAL

The Continental Association of late has become one for dream performances from previously struggling teams. Two years ago it was the Toronto Wolves who went from a decade of obscurity in the depths of the second division to within an October weekend of knocking off the then mighty Brooklyn Kings for a Continental Association pennant. Last year the New York Stars took the underdog role to new heights, rising from 4 straight sub-.500 seasons to win not only the Continental crown but also the World Championship Series. Flash forward to the present and now we have perhaps the most unlikeliest of all teams riding at the top of the Continental wave. The Cincinnati Cannons have found a new home, both literally and figuratively as the franchise moved from Baltimore to Cincinnati and after six straight last place finishes in which they never won more than 65 games in a season the Cannons suddenly have been shot to the top of the Continental Association table. It is far too early to crown them champions but it is clear the franchise is back to being at least competitive once more, rescued from the brink of oblivion by an owner with a family legacy tracing back to the dawn of the sport, a Hall of Famer manager who has won more games than any other skipper in baseball history, and a new cast of veterans led by a much travelled slugger who seems to enjoy success wherever he goes but is never kept around long enough to put down roots in any one city.

The owner, soap magnate John E. Tice, was the most popular man in Cincinnati ever since news broke he had brought big league baseball back to the Queen City for the first time since 1891. With the early success the club has enjoyed Tice has taken on deity-like status in Cincinnati while at the same time baseball fans in Baltimore cannot believe the insult of seeing the franchise prosper in it's new home on them on top of the illness they felt at losing their beloved ballclub, one that had been in Maryland since 1890.

The manager is George Theobald, a 77 year old who just has a way of turning teams around. The Hall of Famer won three world championships in Boston, added another in Detroit and nearly turned the current version of the Dynamos into World Champions after being a club that resembled the old Cannons before he took over. Theobald charges beat Philadelphia 4-1 yesterday for their 19th win in the past 24 games and the 2,450th win of 'Toothpick' Theobald's career, which is nearly 200 more than the next man on the all-time wins list. His easygoing manner seems to be exactly what a team that could do nothing right for nearly a decade needed and the handpicked staff that includes fellow Hall of Famer Big George Johnson as the pitching coach has done wonders to turn the franchise around.

Nearly as much as Theobald's arrival, the impact of veteran additions to the youthful core has been key to the Cannons resurgence. Moxie Pidgeon (.352,8,38) is challenging for the lead in all three triple crown categories and has carried the team on his back at times and is fresh off a World Championship win with the Stars. Pidgeon, who has hit at least 20 homers in a season for four different teams, also was a key piece of world title clubs in Cleveland and with the New York Gothams. Veteran Larry Brown (4sv, 0.67), like Pidgeon on his fifth team, has been outstanding in relief and has assumed a leadership role in the clubhouse. Catcher Jack Flint's (.295,1,11) work ethic has been contagious while William Jones (4-3, 2.74), Doc Love (.344,0,12) and former Brooklyn Kings Joe Perret (.317,2,14) and Doug Lightbody (.235,0,5) have also helped changed the losing culture the permeated the Cannons clubhouse in the past. Young stars Rufus Barrell II (5-1, 2.86), Rusty Petrick (4-2, 3.36) and Fred Galloway (.349,1,26) suddenly seemed refreshed now that the weight of all of those last place finishes has been eased with the new beginning in Cincinnati.

The season is a marathon, so only time will tell if the Cannons can continue to perform as they have in their quick sprint to the front this month, but it certainly appears this is a much different franchise than Continental Association rivals kicked around for most of the past decade.

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION
The Chicago Chiefs continue to lead the way in the Federal Association despite dropping two of three to the New York Gothams at home over the weekend. Fortunately for the Chiefs the Pittsburgh Miners, who split a 2-game set with Chicago earlier in the week, also had a rough weekend against one of the second division clubs by falling twice in Washington. The Chiefs lead on the Miners sits at 3.5 games with the Boston Minutemen sitting in third place.

ADWELL AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Here are the finalists for the 1940 Adwell Award, presented to the athlete judged to be the best high school baseball player in the nation. Last year's winner, New York City high school pitcher Hiram 'The Undertaker' Steinberg is the odds on favourite to win the award for the second consecutive season and join current New York Gotham Walt Messer as the only player to win a pair of Adwell Awards.

The Adwell Award, first presented following the 1934 prep season, is named after Red Adwell, who was the winningest pitcher in high school history under the old feeder league system, pitching for Birmingham High School from 1910 thru 1913 before going on to spend a decade in FABL with the Pittsburgh Miners, Chicago Chiefs and Philadelphia Keystones.

1940 NOMINEES FOR THE ADWELL AWARD

BILL BARNETT - Senior: Brunswick (NJ) HS: Selected 5th overall by the New York Stars in January, Barnett has been named to the All-American team for the third time after a .495,10,35 season. He tied with Otto Christian for the highest WAR in the nation and his 1.643 OPS was second only to fellow Adwell nominee Dick Blaszak. A 4 year starter at Brunswick High School, in the post-feeder era only Rick York and Bill Murnane drove in more runs in their high school career than Barnett did and only Walt Messer hit more career homeruns

DICK BLASZAK - Senior: Morris HS (Bronx, NY): Like Barnett, Blaszak makes his third consecutive appearance on the All-American team and his .516/.574/.1.086 slash numbers compare favorably with his previous two seasons at Morris High. Was recently selected first overall by the Cincinnati Cannons in the January phase of the draft. Blaszak led the nation in OPS (1.660), tied for second in homeruns (12), third in rbi's (37) and his .520 batting average was sixth highest in the nation. Third in WAR behind Bill Barnett and Otto Christian.

OTTO CHRISTIAN - Junior: Walla Walla (WA) HS: Another one of the growing list of talented players coming out of the Pacific Northwest, Christian equaled the non-feeder league single season High School homerun mark this season with 15. An All-American selection each of his three seasons at Walla Walla High, Christian hit a career best .482 this season while also leading the nation with 47 rbi's. His OPS was third in the nation, trailing only fellow Adwell Award nominees Bill Barnett and Dick Blaszak.

HIRAM STEINBERG - Junior: Washington HS (New York City): The 1939 Adwell winner is still just a junior and the odds on favourite to be the first pitcher selected in the 1941 FABL draft. His numbers this season: 11-0 with a 0.23 era and a FIP of 0.00 (no, that is not a misprint). Led nation with 222 strikeouts which is a new all-time single season High School record (including feeders), smashing Donnie Jones 1936 mark of 215. Only 6 times has a pitcher topped 200 K's in a high school season and three of them belong to Steinberg. His 0.23 ERA this season is also a new record, topping Rufus Barrell's 1935 mark of 0.38. He 'only' won 11 games this season after going 12-0 each of his first two years and he has a chance to graduate as the only high school pitcher to win at least 30 games without a loss. At this time next year we will likely be celebrating Steinberg as the career leader among High School pitchers in wins, strikeouts and era.

CHARLIE WADDELL - Senior: Central Catholic (Toledo, OH): It's too bad for Waddell that Hiram Steinberg exists otherwise we would be talking about the incredible numbers posted by the Cleveland born righthander. Waddell was a perfect 12-0 with a 0.68 era and 216 strikeouts, which would have been a new national record for K's were it not for Steinberg's totals this season. Opposing hitters batted just .133 against Waddell, but again he was second to Steinberg's .124 opposition batting average. Waddell was drafted by the Philadelphia Keystones in the regional round in January.

1940 HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS UNVEILED

Plenty of familiar names dot the list of High School All-American selections as seven of the 18 players to compromise the 1940 group had been named to the select list in at least one previous season. Seniors Bill Barnett and Dick Blaszak, along with juniors Otto Christian, Jesse Alvardo and Hiram Steinberg are all making their third consecutive appearance on the All-American team while senior pitcher Hal Hackney and junior catcher Eddie Howard are each selected for a second time.

The six seniors who were named to the squad all were selected in the January phase of the FABL draft led by Bronx, New York outfielder Dick Blaszak, who was taken first overall by the Cincinnati Cannons. The Philadelphia Keystones selected pitcher Joe Quade third overall, Brooklyn drafted John Moss - cousin of current Chicago Chiefs outfielder Cliff Moss, with the 4th selectin, Bill Barnett was taken fifth by the New York Stars and Joe Rutherford was the 7th overall selection of the Chicago Chiefs. Pitchers Charlie Waddell and Hal Hackney each were regional selections in the third round with the Keystones drafting Waddell and Hackney going to the St Louis Pioneers.

QUICK HITS

• Cincinnati Cannons first round picks will be expensive to sign. Picking first and second overall after the deal that sent Gus Goulding to the New York Gothams the Cannons selected New York City high school outfielder Dick Blaszak first overall followed immediately by Lane State pitcher Bill Sohl with the number two pick. Blaszak (.516,12,37) finished among the nation's leaders in all three triple crown categories and has accepted an offer the attend North Carolina Tech so it will reportedly cost the Cannons over $25,000 to convince him to join their minor league system. Sohl (10-4, 2.60) was a finalist for College Baseball's Christian Trophy and while it is unlikely he would return to the Oregon school for his senior season he is said to be asking for a $19,000 signing bonus to turn pro. Those two players will eat up most of the Cannons draft budget which perhaps is another benefit of the trade that brought Moxie Pidgeon to the Queen City in exchange for the 5th overall pick (also acquired from the Gothams in the Goulding deal) and Cincinnati's second rounder. Had the Cannons kept both those picks they would likely have been hard pressed to find the cash to sign each of their top four selections.
• The move to acquire Pidgeon (.352,8,38) and Larry Brown (4 sv, 0.67 era) is looking like the most important in a series of changes made by the new management team in Cincinnati but don't overlook the waiver signing of 37 year old Joe Perret over the winter. Perret (.317,2,14) always performed when called upon by the Kings but was a victim of the number's game in Brooklyn. He is still having a tough time getting in the lineup every day in Cincinnati but the way Perret has performed he is giving the Cannons no choice but to play him regularly.
• On the topic of signing high school draft picks it looks like the Washington Eagles second round pick Johnny Thacker has made his mind up to attend Columbia Military Academy instead of turning pro. The 17 year old hit .429 this past season for Portsmouth (OH) High School but recently told his high school coach that the current state of the world has made enrolling at Columbia Military a priority for him. Thacker, who's father served in the World War, was the third catcher selected in the draft, going to the Eagles with the fifth pick of the second round.
• Good news, bad news as far as the New York Gothams are concerned. On a positive note, the Gothams, with 3/5 of a rotation, appear to have reached boring mediocrity. Unfortunately it may be a year too late. Fan interest is down, attendance is down. It may take a bit more to create some excitement in Queens. For now Bunny Edwards and Sam Hodge are being sent to the bullpen, with Harry Carter and John Douglas with get some starts. Manager Ed Ziehl explained the teams thought process, "We're trying to avoid the pitching chaos of the past few seasons, with guys coming and going weekly. We believe Bunny and Sam are major leaguers, who haven't quite found their way. We hope they can round into form with some innings out of the pen. Also, Carter and Douglas have been with the team and have prior starting experience. We're looking for continuity."
• Across town the New York Stars are growing increasingly concerned with the play of catcher Johnny Hopper (.205,0,15). The 26 year old has had a terrible drop-off at the plate this season compared with his previous three years and the club is also privately worried his defense is suffering as well. It sounds like the Stars, at 19-19, are worried the season is slipping away from them and may be close to pulling the trigger for an elite catcher. Problem is they are in short supply.
• If you ask me the Stars need to ride it out with Hopper. Might just be a down season and he has been just too good a player the past three seasons to give up on. But if they are set on a change behind the plate perhaps Montreal's Adam Mullins might be a good fit if the Stars are willing to throw enough young talent at the Saints. Or if things don't pick up soon for the Cougars, perhaps they would part with veteran Mike Taylor and trust the starting job to backup Harry Mead until top prospect Solly Skidmore is ready.
• The Chicago Cougars are another club that entered the season with high hopes but feel like this is shaping up to have the potential to be another wasted season. The Cougars, favoured by many to win the CA pennant this season, are 2 game below .500 and dealing with injury troubles. Aart McDonald, who was filling in as an outfielder for the injured Carlos Montes is now hurt and shortstop Billy Hunter will be sidelined for 6 weeks. That does mean rookie Skipper Schneider will see some time at short.
• It was a decent week for each of the Schneider boys. Skipper hits .320 in his debut week and gets his first big league hit - a single off the Cannons Glenn Payne. Buddy, a FABL veteran in comparison, goes 10-for-24 including his first big league homer last week. It was dramatic, coming off Sergio Gonzales to lead off the ninth and tie the game at 3, but the Minutemen ultimately fell 4-3 in 11 in that contest with Detroit. Buddy is hitting .327 with 6 extra base hits in his first 12 games in the majors.
• Tough break for the Montreal Saints who suffer yet another injury to a young arm. Shortly after losing top pitching prospect Pat Weakley for the year with elbow troubles Wally Doyle suffers elbow problems of his own. Fortunately no where near as serious but Doyle, who was 2-2 on the year, will be nursing his sore wing for about a month. Earlier this season the Saints also lost 2nd year man Bill Stewart for the year. The 24 year old was 8-6 last year in his Montreal debut.
• Wild game between the Miners and the Chiefs last week. The Miners somehow prevailed 7-6 to earn a split of their two game set. The Chiefs had 3 men thrown out at home, including the last out of the game. The Miners also had a player thrown out at home and had two more guys caught stealing.
• Big series for the Cannons - been a while since that phrase was uttered - as they host Toronto in a 3 game set for top spot in the CA. The two clubs met early in the season in Toronto with the visitors taking 2 of 3 at Dominion Field.
• Breakout week for Walt Pack in Toronto…overdue according to Wolves fans. Yes Pack has broken out of his slump, now if the Wolves could find him a glove to cure his fielding woes... Wolves had a tough loss against the Kings blowing a 7-0 early lead, hopefully a lesson learned about not taking their collective foot off the gas. Toronto's week WLWLWL.
• The Keystones road woes continue. 15-4 at Broad Street Park but just 5-15 away including 1-5 last week and are now 6 games back of front running Chiefs in the Fed.

• The German drive across France veered toward the English Channel, apparently with the aim of isolating Britain and destroying her army. Nazis estimate a successful drive to the coast would split Allied forces and isolate 300,000 British soldiers.
• The German march towards the Channel continued after French forces were crushed near Abbeville and their commanding officer was taken prisoner. French Premier Reynaud blamed the Nazi advance on "unbelievable faults" but promised that the Allies yet would conquer, even if a miracle is needed to save them.
• Britain declares "Dictatorial Rule" to give government full control over all men and material resources in the country to meet the German threat.
• As the week ends the Germans were pushed out of Abbeville but have surrounded Calais. German planes are also bombing large areas of the English coast in what many believe might be the prelude to an early blitzkrieg on the British Isles by air and sea.
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• Italy prepares for war after Mussolini is reported to have rejected President Roosevelt's plea that he keep out of it. French owned Corsica in the Mediterranean may be the goal of the first Italian move.
• The Senate Appropriations Committee approved nearly $2 billion in defense spending, an unprecedented amount in peace time. US Military bosses are calling for a speedy realization of President Roosevelt's goal of an air armada of 50,000 planes.

June 4, 1940
 

JUNE 3, 1940

WHAT IS IN THE WATER IN CINCINNATI

From the desk of OSA head Dan Barrell

What indeed is in the water? The Cannons traded the Inner Harbor for the Ohio River, but that's not why they're suddenly playing like they're the best team in FABL. So what's the difference? Well, let's start with the brain trust: new GM, a legendary new manager, new Scouting Director (I've got a bias so I'll zip it on that one), new coaches, etc. The roster has had some churn as well - bringing in solid veterans like Moxie Pidgeon, Jack Flint, William Jones and even waning talents like Doug Lightbody and Joe Perret - guys whose impact on the field comes as much (or more) from their veteran leadership than their play. And top it off with great pitching led by the aforementioned Jones and the emergence at last of Deuce Barrell and Rusty Petrick and there you have it. The question is: can they keep it up?

STEINBURG UNANIMOUS CHOICE TO WIN SECOND STRAIGHT ADWELL AWARD

It came as no surprise that New York City pitcher Hiram Steinberg was named the winner of the Adwell Award for the second straight season. The trophy, presented annual to the athlete deemed to be the top high school baseball player in the nation, has been in existence since 1934 and Steinberg became the first back-to-back winner although it should be noted that current New York Gothams infielder Walt Messer did win the Adwell twice, as a sophomore and a senior. Rufus Barrell II interrupted Messer's streak and it is Barrell that Steinberg draws comparisons too. Not so much for their pitching style but rather for the sheer dominance they each displayed competing at the high school level.

What is scary is that some scouts feel Steinberg might not look completely out of place on a big league mound today, and he still has one more full season of high school ball ahead of him before he will become draft eligible. It is widely expected that he will be the first overall selection next January and perhaps could be the first pitcher to go straight from the high school ranks to the major leagues.

His numbers this season are the stuff of legend: 11-0 with a 0.23 era and a FIP of 0.00 (no, that is not a misprint). Led nation with 222 strikeouts which is a new all-time single season High School record (including feeders), smashing Donnie Jones 1936 mark of 215. Only 6 times has a pitcher topped 200 K's in a high school season and three of them belong to Steinberg. His 0.23 ERA this season is also a new record, topping Rufus Barrell's 1935 mark of 0.38. He 'only' won 11 games this season after going 12-0 each of his first two years and he has a chance to graduate as the only high school pitcher to win at least 30 games without a loss. At this time next year we will likely be celebrating Steinberg as the career leader among High School pitchers in wins, strikeouts and era.

Other than Rufus 'Deuce' Barrell there has been no other high school pitcher in the modern (human GM) era to show this type of dominance and draw this much attention. Even when you include the college ranks you can count the pitchers who have had this kind of impact on a draft class on one hand - Tommy Wilcox, Tom Barrell and perhaps Curly Jones are the only ones to approach the hype that has already started for Steinberg and is only likely to multiply as the draft date approaches. He is also the odds on favourite to win a third straight Adwell Award next June.

HAMMAN COLLEGE PITCHER NAMED CHRISTIAN TROPHY WINNER

New York Stars draft pick Don Bitters was named the winner of the Frank Christian Trophy as college baseball's top performer. The 22 year old junior played just one season at Hamman College but it was quite a performance as the lefthander posted a 12-3 record with a 2.44 era. In doing so he became just the fourth pitcher in AIAA history to win 12 games in a season. Bitters, who will turn 23 in two weeks, was selected in the second round of the January phase of FABL's draft and is looking forward to joining the World Championship winning Stars organization.

Bitters was a runaway winner, outpointing Lane State pitcher Bill Sohl and freshman Bluegrass State outfielder Ernie McCoy who finished second and third in the voting. Vern Wilson, a junior outfielder from CCLA and George Wynn, a pitcher from tiny Willamette Valley College, were the other finalists.

FOURTH ROUND OF FABL DRAFT COMPLETE

The second phase of the 1940 FABL draft is underway. Rounds 1-3 are selected every January with the remaining 22 rounds being drafted at the conclusion of the college and high school seasons in June. The Chicago Cougars made Brooklyn high school pitcher Duke Bybee the first selection of the June portion and it started a real run on high school players as only 4 of the 16 selections were from the AIAA including a pair of teammates at California's Redwood University in pitcher Jim Laurita and outfielder Skeeter Gray. The fourth round also featured a foreign born player as the Philadelphia Sailors selected catcher Friedrich Werner with the 10th pick. Werner was born in Germany but settled in Nebraska with his family while he was still a young child. Here is the complete fourth round:

QUICK HITS

• Don't tell John Lawson of the Chicago Cougars he's 37! On pace for a 7th All Star selection, Lawson is hitting .408/.463/.538 (178 OPS+) with 16 doubles, 2 homers, and 28 RBIs. No one in either league comes close to him in the batting race, with the next closest Red Bond nearly 40 points lower. Lawson also leads both circuits in WAR while ranking 2nd in OPS
• Something old, something new from the Gothams - On May 29, Bud Jameson lined a 3rd inning double off former teammate Oscar Morse for hit number 2000. Jameson, who has spent his whole career with the Gothams is 5th on the team's hits leaders. On June 1 Gothams 20 year old 2B Roosevelt Brewer smacked 5 hits in a 23-7 spanking of Washington. Joining Brewer i the onslaught were rookie catcher Pete Casstevens, also with 5 hits. Casstevens, in his breakout performance included a double and a triple in the game. Amazingly a 3rd Gotham, RF Harry Clark also contributed 5 hits. In total the Gothams had 30 hits in the game with all starters having at least 1 hit, including starting pitcher Fred Ratcliffe who was 4-4.
• Dilly Ward, Lew Seals, Bill Burkett, Don Miller, Ron Rattigan, Sam Brown. What do they have in common? They are among the 15 players with a higher wOBA than Sal Pestilli, the Fed leader in home runs. Four players in the Fed with a wOBA of over .400: Red Johnson (.427), Pablo Reyes (.422), Mack Sutton (.408), Hank Barnett (.408). Three batters in the CA: 27-year-old Red Bond (.471), 37-year-old John Lawson (.450), and Fred McCormick (.400). Note that as well as leading the CA in home runs, Montreal's Red Bond is also leading in wOBA. Truly a breakout season for Bond.
• Why are are there 15 batters in the Fed with a higher wOBA than Sal Pestilli? Three words: on base percentage. It would appear that Pestilli is less interested in taking a walk than he has ever been--he is on pace for 42 home runs and 29 base on balls. With 13 home runs among his 49 hits, over 25% of Pestilli's hits have left the yard
• Back to Bond (.366,11,31), the Saints 27 year old outfielder was named CA player of the week after going 13-for-25 in 6 games. The winner in the Federal Association was Detroit's Red Johnson (.312,9,32) who had 3 homers and 11 rbi's to help Detroit win 6 of 7 games last week.
• Dynamos are charging hard in Fed with a 13-2 run before losing Sunday in Pittsburgh. Just a game back in a very tight Fed race.
• May was a pretty good month for the Chicago Chiefs, at least until they lost the last 6 games. Finally won again on Sunday, breaking a 7 game winless streak. Prior to that losing streak to end the month the Chiefs began May with an 18-6 run.

• Allied armies in the north of France are chased back by advancing German forces and are now making their stand on a new line defending the English Channel. British naval gunships are slowing the Nazi advance at Calais, just 22 miles from the chalk cliffs of Dover.
• King Leopold III surrendered the Belgian army in the face of the German drive while Hitler's troops continue to strike at now trapped British and French troops in Flanders. Critics feel it was a major blunder by the King, jeopardizing not only his own country but also the Anglo-French forces to whom he had appealed for help.
• By week's end the Germans claimed they had wiped out Allied forces that were surrounded in Flanders, blasting them with a ferocious ground attack and with bombing runs aimed at transport ships attempting to evacuate the Allies.
• Expectations that Adolf Hitler might try to split the British and French allies with separate offers of peace were voiced today as British, French and Belgian troops who escaped the Nazi trap in Flanders started arriving in England from the inferno across the Channel.
• Renowned American journalist Dorothy Thompson writes that if the Nazi are victorious, all the English will be evacuated from Great Britain and Germans will settle there.
• President Roosevelt asked for another billion dollars in defense funding that he said was needed because of "almost incredible events" in the past two weeks of Europe's war - "particularly as a result of the use of aviation and mechanized equipment."
  
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June 10, 1940
 

JUNE 10, 1940

HARD TIMES IN CHICAGO

The Chicago Chiefs were flying high atop the Federal Association for a decent part of May but since Memorial Day it seems little has gone right for the Chiefs, or for their cross-town neighbors the Cougars either. The Chiefs entered play on the Memorial weekend Sunday with a 3.5 game cushion on second place Pittsburgh atop the Federal Association. However, things went south quickly as the Chiefs fell 5-3 to Gus Goulding and the Gothams that day in what would be the start of a seven game losing streak and a stretch that now includes 13 losses in their last 15 contests. Meanwhile the Pittsburgh Miners continue to chug along as they normally do and have moved back into top spot in the Federal Association with the Philadelphia Keystones, back at home so back to winning thanks to the best home record (and worst road record) in the Fed, sitting in second place.

The Chicago Cougars are also in a downward spiral with 7 losses in their last 11 games and they are suddenly 11.5 games back of the front-running Cincinnati Cannons in the Continental Association. The Cougars did manage to sweep the Cannons on the road but lost any momentum that might have generated very quickly as they went to Toronto and dropped 3 straight before finishing the week by losing three of four games in Cleveland. Injuries have crippled the Cougars all season and last week was particularly bad as pitcher Eddie 'Caveman' Quinn (2-5, 3.98) was lost for the season while veteran second sacker Freddie Jones (.258,0,10) dislocated his shoulder and will miss two months. They join shortstop Billy Hunter (.286,0,10) on the injured list but Hunter is at least close to returning from the elbow strain that has sidelined him the past couple of weeks.
The Keystones struggled in their 12-game road trip, going 2-10 to cut them down to size. But, since wading around .500 and treading water, the magic has come back, winning 11 of 15 in their 18-game stay at Broad Street Park. The Keys are heading into the final home series, a three-game set against the rival Gothams, before embarking another 12-game road trip.

Philadelphia will have to learn how to play on the road, as a 5-15 record away from the friendly environs of Broad Street Park will not cut the mustard. The Keystones are an outstanding 26-8 while eating home cooking, while the season numbers do not look bad. The Keys are second in the Federal Association in most runs scored (258) and also in fewest runs allowed (213). But, Manager Bill Libby is most proud of run prevention by way of their starting pitching, whose earned run average ranked second in the Fed at 3.15 earned runs per nine innings.

"We have gotten contributions up and down the rotation", Libby said. "[Lloyd] Stevens and [Pepper] Tuttle have taken the next step and both have been hot lately. [Herman] Patterson pitched like an ace for the first month of the season and we know he can pitch like that regularly."

Jim Whiteley is about to return from a sore elbow and the Keystones can be cautious, as Gene White (3-1, 2.57 E.R.A.) has pitched well since replacing Whiteley in the starting rotation. In fact, White will stick with the big club while Henry Shaffer (3-4, 3.68 E.R.A.) was optioned to AAA Louisville for some additional seasoning.

Long-time catcher and captain Carl Ames stands at 1,999 hits. His next hit will enter him into the exclusive 2,000-hit club, in which only three Keystones belong. Ames will join Zebulon Banks (3,307 hits), Rankin Kellogg (2,770), and Fred Roby (2,280). Bobby Barrell (1,875) is fast on Ames's tail and should join the club next season.

In other news, Zebulon Banks was part of the class inducted into the newly-conceived Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. But, the Keystones franchise were still bamboozled by the sudden retirement of Rankin Kellogg, who was also inducted by committee decision, and a proper celebration for Banks was never put on the calendar. For the Banks family and the fans of the all-time great, August 25th will be the date they can circle. Before the Keystones home game against the Chicago Chiefs, the Banks family will be feted, as will the unveiling of a special tribute to the former first baseman and manager.

GREEN SOX SUCCESS MAKING OREGON A HOTBED FOR BASEBALL TALENT

Folks in the east and midwest feel they have a monopoly on quality baseball but truth be told the state of Oregon is probably producing as much or more quality talent per capita than any other area. The Great Western League is certainly a step down from the big boys in the Continental and Federal Association's but the success of the Portland Green Sox over the years has given birth to a vibrant high school baseball scene in the state of Oregon. While the Green Sox were winning title after title - 11 in all, easily the most in the GWL - the college game also began to prosper, first with nearby Rainier College in Washington and more recently with the emergence of Lane State as a west coast power. The Emeralds joined the AIAA in 1934 and are quickly becoming of the most prestigious college programs in the west. Portland Tech and Stratton University also field teams at the AIAA D1 level while Willamette Valley College and Davidson University of Monmouth play in Division Three. In addition there are 33 high schools competing in the Oregon Prep League and it is clear that the Green Sox presence has made baseball the most popular sport in the region.

The AAA club has been around since 1904 and among the many great players who hail from Oregon and grew up Green Sox fans you can count former Chicago Chiefs great Pete Layton, Dave Trowbridge of the New York Stars, Boston's Art Spencer, Les Tucker of Pittsburgh and young Detroit star Red Johnson. It is Johnson, who was a High School All-American in his junior season at Portland's Central Catholic in 1934 and received honourable mention the following year just prior to be selected 2nd overall by the Detroit Dynamos in the 1935 draft, that now carries the torch for Oregon high school ballplayers but he has company as fellow second overall FABL draft selection Bill Sohl played his high school ball in Portland before starring at Lane State. The Cincinnati Cannons made Sohl the second pick of this year's draft.

Despite only being at the Division One level since 1934 Lane State has already had two players named to the First Team All-American list and counting Sohl and shortstop Jimmie James, who was a fourth round selection of the Chicago Cougars this week, a total of 15 Emeralds have been drafted including first rounders Sohl, Biff Henson and Joe Henry. Porland Tech has seen 9 of it's players drafted including two from their powerful 1937 squad that were lottery picks. Even tiny Willamette Valley College got into the act this year when George Wynn was taken 8th overall by the Montreal Saints after a standout season that saw the Walla Walla, Washington native receive consideration, along with Sohl, for the Christian Trophy.
It is just north of the Oregon border but Walla Walla, Washington is also building quite the reputation for providing premier baseball talent. There is of course the previously mentioned George Wynn, the pitcher known as the 'Walla Walla Winner' who starred at Portland's Willamette Valley College before being selected 8th overall by Montreal in January. Perhaps an even bigger star out of the tiny city is a third baseman at Walla Walla High School by the name of Otto Christian. The 17 year old is just a junior for the Warriors but has been named a High School All-American three years running and is expected to be one of the first names called in January when the 1941 FABL draft begins. With Red Johnson, Biff Henson, Bill Sohl, George Wynn and soon Otto Christian the level of baseball talent in the Northwest has never looked better.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

It seems a number of teams rarely get mentioned in This Week in Figment Baseball so a new column from Jiggs McGee will be a quick comment or two on each of the 16 clubs. Just whatever catches Jiggs eye:
BOSTON- What is wrong with Dick Higgins (3-9, 4.67). The Minutemen ace was not great last season, but at least a slightly above average pitcher. This season he has been bad with some truly awful starts. He did pitch well, but took the loss anyway in a 2-1 defeat to St Louis last time out so hopefully that effort gets him started in the right direction.

BROOKLYN- Kings are at a crossroads. Just struggling along trying to get to .500 after an awful collapse last season for the former Continental powerhouse. Is it perhaps time to go into a full rebuild move and look at getting whatever prospects they can for the likes of Al Wheeler (.225,7,23), Tom Barrell (3-7, 5.06) and Fred Barrell (.227,0,14)? None of the three have looked that impressive but there likely is still a market at least for Wheeler and Tom.

CHIEFS- I just have a feeling the Chiefs recent slump is simply balancing things out on their season. I do not believe they are as good as they were for the first month and a half of the season but they are also certainly not as bad as they have been lately. Yes prolonging that even number title string is nice to talk about but the feeling around much of the league is the Chiefs will settle in as a third or fourth place club as the weather warms.

COUGARS- The one positive of the Billy Hunter injury is at allowed rookie Skipper Schneider to strut his stuff. The 19 year old has done more than the Cougars brass could have even hoped for in his first 3 weeks in the big leagues. Schneider is batting .338 with 7 extra base hits and 12 rbi's while doing a pretty decent job of playing shortstop as well.

CINCINNATI- We just keep waiting for the clock to strike midnight on the Cinderella Cannons, but so far at least they just keep on winning. This season has been a coming out party for a number of Cannons especially Rufus Barrell (7-2, 2.71), Butch Smith (7-3, 2.47) and Glenn Payne (7-3, 2.21). The scary thing is the organization has a pair of potentially very good pitchers in AAA in 1939 first overall pick Vic Carroll and 24 year old Jim Anderson. Then there is also second overall draft pick this year Bill Sohl. Who knew? There actually was some real talent in the organization despite what it looked like the past few seasons.

CLEVELAND- Despite the Foresters struggles there is no slowing down Mel Carrol at the plate. The 28 year old, who was perhaps overshadowed last year by the Wolves Fred McCormick's push to hit .400, but it was Carrol who led the CA in hits a season ago with 230. He is at it again this season, batting .382, which is the second best mark in the CA.

DETROIT- The 1935 Keystones, led by Bobby Barrell and Rankin Kellogg, hold the major league record for homeruns in a season with 163. The Dynamos came two homers shy of that mark two years ago and are close to being on that pace again this season as a full year of Frank Vance (.301,9,29) is added to the Dynamic Duo of Sal Pestilli (.266,15,37) and Red Johnson (.320,11,40).

MONTREAL- I don't think there is a more exciting player to follow right now that Saints outfielder Red Bond (.348,11,32). Bond is finally getting his due after receiving little attention because he played in Montreal and had been, at least until last year, overshadowed by Pablo Reyes in the Saints outfield. Not a lot of positives for Saints fans of late, but watching Red Bond play everyday has to be one.

NY STARS- The Stars sent struggling catcher Johnny Hopper to Los Angeles and the California sun must have agreed with him as the 26 year old hit .381 (8-for-21) in his first 6 games in the Great Western League. Mike Burkholder (.238,0,5) is now the starter behind the plate in New York but I can't see that lasting very long. Burkholder is not, nor has he ever been, a number one catcher and the Stars need to get Hopper back in the Big Apple, unless they are going to pull the trigger on a big deal.

NY GOTHAMS- Not a bad debut for rookie catcher Pete Casstevens but there are worries about the Million Dollar infield as the exchange rate on offensive production is very low out of the quartet right now with third baseman Billy Dalton's (.239,3,10) numbers especially troubling. The good news is they are getting solid pitching out of Gus Goulding, Nate Spear and Harry Carter but now Carter is hurt. Fortunately it is said to be nothing serious.

KEYSTONES- The challenge for Keystones manager Bill Libby is how does he trick the squad into believing they are playing in Philadelphia when they are actually on the road. FABL has seen a few weird home/away splits in past seasons but none as dramatic as the Keystones have been so far this season. 26-8 at Broad Street Park, best in either association but they are the worst team in the majors on the road at 5-15.

SAILORS- I find it amazing how year after year the Sailors farm system is consistently among the most successful in baseball. That is the case again through the first third of this season as three of the 5 Sailors affiliates are in first place in their league, while the other two are in second.

PITTSBURGH- Have the Miners discovered another veteran gem in Gene Stevens? The 34 year old washed out with the Stars a couple of years ago and bounced around with a few organizations but looks like a mirror image of Lefty Allen if his first two FABL starts in over 2 years are all we look at. Stevens beat the Gothams 4-3 early last week and followed it up with a 6-hit complete game shutout of St Louis on Saturday. It was just the second big league shutout of his career in 201 starts and the first since 1936.

ST LOUIS- Don't look now but the best starter at the moment for the struggling Pioneers is none other than Sam Sheppard. You might remember he won an Allan Award in 1935 when he went 28-7 with a Fed best 3.13 era and followed that up with two more twenty-win seasons. Then he fell apart and was awful the past two years but suddenly, at age 32, Sheppard seems to have figured out how to pitch again and is 3-3 with a 2.40 era, second lowest in the Federal Association.

TORONTO- Everyone knew the Wolves pitching was top notch, and it hasn't disappointed but entering the season there were plenty of questions about the offense - outside of Fred McCormick of course. Well, believe it or not the Wolves lead all of FABL in runs scored, even more than the Pittsburgh Miners.

WASHINGTON- Pitching again continues to be a big problem in the nation's capital but that has been the case for years. Jack Elder (3-8, 4.91) looks like the latest in a long line of Eagles hurlers to follow up a twenty win season with a terrible year. Bill Anderson did it and never did recover. Eddie Quinn's year by year W-L record in Washington was like watching a yo-yo. Karl Johnson was another victim but he got out of Washington and back on track last season with the Miners. No idea what the cause might be but it just seems like Eagles pitchers are incapable of stringing together multiple strong seasons.
To find the last Washington pitcher that actually strung a few good season together you really have to go back to Dick Dennis, who was 164-136 for his career that included 13 seasons with the Eagles but Dennis, like so many other Eagles had a terrible one year drop-off in 1933 - although he was 36 years old at that point. Harry Horn is the only Washington starter in the last 20 years to not follow up a twenty-win season with just an awful one. Horn did post back to back twenty win seasons starting in 1922 and although he did have some ups and downs late in his career, they took some time to materialize, not like the immediate woes that seemed to befuddle each of the others. Bottom line is that it simply is not easy being a Washington Eagles starting pitcher for more than one season.

QUICK HITS

• Bad time for the Chicago Chiefs to have to face Pittsburgh. The Chiefs are playing possibly their worst baseball of the season right now and are really struggling through their current road trip which concludes with 3 games at Fitzpatrick Park, where the Miners are a solid 21-13.
• Very nice big league debut for Juan Pomales. The 26 year old native of Cuba was acquired from the Cougars over the winter and his big league debut was a complete game 5-4 win over Montreal in 10 innings. A two-way player in the minors, Pomales batted second in the game but did not have much success at the plate, going 0-for-5. He did get his first big league hit a couple of games later when playing in the outfield this time, he laced a 7th inning rbi double off of Montreal reliever Lou Ellertson to help the Wolves prevail 12-10 over the Saints.
• The Wolves have won 9 of their last 10 games but needed the hot streak to keep up with the Cannons, who are on a 15-5 run but were slowed by Chicago last week when the Cougars swept a 3 game series at Monarchs Field. That evened the Cannons season record with Chicago at 4-4, the only team the Cannons are not over .500 against. Cincinnati has had it's way with the two Big Apple clubs, going 7-2 vs the Kings so far and 6-1 against the Stars.
• Doug Lightbody had a great start for Cannons but has fallen off the map after first couple of weeks. He is sitting at 1962 career hits and the Cannons brass would love to see him reach 2,000 but as Denny Andrews continues to heat up in AAA it is looking more and more like Lightbody will have to be shown the door.
• 21 year old Vic Carroll is now 7-1 at Indianapolis and we can't hold him back much longer. Problem is everyone on the mound in Cincinnati is pitching well so there is no room for Carroll, the 1939 top pick, or Jim Anderson who has also looked very strong in AAA. Perhaps Rusty Petrick (5-4, 4.44), who had pitched well until big hiccups his last two starts, better start looking over his shoulder.
• A lot of Cannons stuff this week but here is one more - the Cannons went 24-5 in May. Records only go back to 1930 but that is the highest single month win total for a Cannon club that we can find and the last time they won even 20 games in a month was July of 1931 when the then Baltimore Cannons went 20-11.
• Home cooking again doing wonders for Keystones. Back from a disastrous road trip and they go 11-4 at home to close on a Pittsburgh team that is also playing well. Keystones are now 26-8 at Broad Street but just 5-15 elsewhere.
• Having Tom Bird still battling a nagging injury is hurting the Chiefs. Bird is batting just .194 so far this month but the most telling reason for the club's struggles of late is despite being second in nearly every major offensive category in the Federal Association, the Chiefs rank only 6th in runs scored.
• Shortstop is a big problem for the Chiefs. An unnamed team source was quoted in the Chicago Herald-Examiner this way: "I want to say we are getting no production from short stop, but it's worse than that--we are getting negative production. Ducky Jordan has a WPA of -0.72 and Tony White -0.14. Rabbit Mudd's glove is not what it once was, but he looks like he can still handle the bat. He'll be getting more starts are short."
• tough road trip for Detroit. Drop 2 of 3 on Pittsburgh to start and finish it by getting swept over weekend by Keystones. Dynamos did win 2 of 3 in Washington in between the rough treatment they received in Pennsylvania

• At least 45 are dead after Paris was bombed for the first time in the now 9-month old war. In response Allied airplanes bombed a suburb of Munich.
• Berlin reports 330,000 Allied troops cut off when surrounded were captured in Belgium.
• As the Nazis capture Dunkirk and Great Britain fears their next move will be to cross the English Channel, Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the House of Commons Britain will fight from Canada if the Isles fall.
• By the weekend Nazi forces have advanced to within 48 miles of Paris as they continue to push forward through France.
• A pointed warning that five English cities would be bombed for every Italian city attacked by Allied bombers in the event Italy enters the war was published in a Rome newspaper just while foreign observers were expressing belief Italy would enter the conflict next week.
• Worried about fifth column activities in Latin America, the focus became the Panama Canal and fears of the possibility of a "Trojan ship" sinking herself while in transit through the canal, thereby putting the key passageway to defense of the Western Hemisphere out of commission.
• Congressional isolationists are preparing to fight President Roosevelt's 'trade-in' program of furnishing military equipment to the Allies, with many observers feeling FDR's campaign was foredoomed.
  
  https://i.imgur.com/4aGyTLt.jpg

June 17, 1940
 

JUNE 17, 1940

I haven't done enough research into minor league players. But if there's a list of 'best players to never get a good shot at The Show,' I'd have to imagine Eddie Bloom is up there.

The reason why I say 'good shot,' is because Bloom actually did make it to the bigs; hurling just over 100 innings over 4 seasons(And 35 games) with the Cougars and Dynamos, and posting a 110 ERA+ for his trouble. However, if you remove his 1937 campaign with Detroit(In which he was recovering from injury, was playing for a genuinely terrible Dynamos squad, and had an infield with a ZR in the negatives), he was one of the best young pitchers in baseball, posting a 157 ERA+ across the remaining three campaigns. And it's not like this was some out of nowhere fluke, he was utterly dominant in the minor leagues, posting a AAA ERA+ of 143 between 31 and 35, and getting around 57% of batters to ground out.

Which brings me to why I think Eddie Bloom didn't stick around, even though he probably deserved a shot as a Cougar. It all comes down to one, six word phrase: Batting Average on balls in play. BABIP, as it's acronymized, is a version of AVG which discounts strikeouts and home runs; and it is often used to measure the impact of luck on how successful a pitcher is, with .300 generally considered to be the baseline. Across his three healthy seasons, Bloom's BABIP was only .269.
But as bad as that may seem at first glance, I'd caution the reader to take note of two things. Firstly, even in the worst case scenario, his ERA with the Cougars would rise to 4.32, which is about average for early 30s baseball. Assuming that he keeps that pace for two full seasons(And that his 33' season is still better than his 32 season), Bloom would've still contributed significantly to a Cougars team that just barely missed October Baseball in '32.

Secondly, there is no reason to believe that this BABIP was entirely a product of luck. Aside from the menagerie of stone gloved shortstops Chicago fielded in 1932 and 33, they had a plus defensive infield with the likes of John Kincaid, Harry Simmons, and Slim Bloom(unrelated) all posting positive ZRs during that time. And, as every Dynamos fan who've watched Sergio Gonzales pitch can attest, give a groundball pitcher a good infield, and their BABIP will be minuscule.

Bloom is now 32 and nearly a decade and a half removed from when he was selected out of high school by the Pittsburgh Miners in round 15 of the 1926 draft but he is still throwing baseballs for a living, having been just signed by the Eagles following his release from the Dynamos for the second time in his career. He looked very good in his two weeks with Washington's Class C affiliate in Pensacola so who knows, maybe Eddie Bloom will get another chance to show what he can do.

LONG WAIT FOR A PAIR OF MOCK DRAFT FIRST ROUNDERS

Outfielders Warren Bryant and Cy Howard are a pair worth keeping an eye on if only to see if OSA saw something the 16 FABL General Managers missed the first five and a half times through the draft. Each was tabbed as potential first round selections in the OSA mock but both dropped like a rock and became the final two mock 'first rounders' to be called.

A 22 year old Bryant was steady but certainly did not overwhelm in his two seasons patrolling center field for the Provo Tech Lions hitting .274 with 12 homers in 120 career games but it was good enough to earn him a spot in the first round of the OSA mock draft. Scouting reports seemed to disagree with such a high standing as OSA felt while he could project to be a .290 hitter with decent strike zone judgement, at best Bryant was on the bubble for future big league employment. By all accounts he is a good teammate and has the added benefit of being able to play second base or shortstop as well as all three outfield positions but he was not selected in the first two rounds of the draft in January and, as he hails from Texas, he was not eligible for the regional round (3rd). With his high standing on the OSA mock - he peaked at 4th a couple of weeks back before settling in at the 8th spot on the current list- Bryant was expecting to hear his named called very early in the process. Instead a call did not come until the 6th round (90th overall) when Bryant finally was selected by the Philadelphia Sailors.

The wait was even longer for fellow 22 year old Cy Howard. His coaches at Daniel Boone College call him a 'baseball rat' and rave about his work ethic. Like Bryant he can play pretty much any position on the diamond and was also a two year starter batting .311 in 1939 for the Frontiersmen. He might have a little more speed than Bryant and OSA feels Howard could one day be a .310 hitter in the big leagues if everything breaks right. He stayed pretty consistent on the mock draft and was 16th at press time but he did not get drafted until the 92nd selection, two choices, after Bryant when the Chicago Cougars selected Howard.

So what happened? Why did the two players who OSA feels deserved to be considered for the first round drop so far? Certainly the plethora of decent outfielders was a factor - the duo were the 21st and 22nd natural centerfielders chosen in this draft- but there must have been something else that caused them to freefall so much. It will be interesting going forward to see how the careers for each of these two pan out and one day we get the answer if OSA saw something in either of them that all of FABL missed.

Here is the ranking from the most recent mock draft and where each player was actually selected:
For those that pay close attention to the FABL draft you may have noticed that a lot of high school arms were taken in the first round this year. Five players (Quade, Howell, Haynes, Hughes and Hunter) have been plucked from the high school ranks and will soon begin their professional careers. High school arms are notoriously dangerous to take with high picks. They take forever to develop if they ever do. Then you add in injuries and it becomes even tougher for these players to make it to the FABL. However, that didn’t stop five GM’s (Boston's included) from drafting a high school arm in this year's draft. It made me wonder about a couple of things. First, is this the most high school arms ever taken in the first round? And second, what has been the success rate of the players taken before this draft? Instead of going back to the first draft in the history of the league I instead chose to only look at post feeder selections. I did this because I feel that with the end of the feeder system the General Managers as a group look and analyze the stats a bit differently. For one thing, we no longer have those excellent recaps Jiggs McGee used to provide during the feeder league seasons. Those recaps helped make some of these guys household names by the time we got to draft day. Minutemen brass can easily admit they sometimes took a player based on what some of those recaps provided. I could easily answer my first question. As it turns out the five players taken in this draft would be a tie with the 1935 draft where five players were also taken. As for success rates? Well you can be the judge.

Del Burns 1-3 1934
It all started with Del Burns. The Detroit Dynamos made Burns the first post feeder, high school arm selected in the FABL. It took Burns 5 seasons to make it to make his FABL debut as a member of the Cougars. Burns logged 23.0 innings for the Cougars without winning a game before being a piece in a trade to Washington for veteran SP Eddie Quinn. Del made his Washington debut at the age of 24 and is the #2 starter in the Eagles rotation. So far this season Burns has posted an 8-2 record with a 4.06 ERA. Burns seems susceptible to the long ball early this season and has walked more than he has struck out. Even though Burns is the “old man” on the list it is still a bit too early to close the book on his development. OSA currently says bottom of the rotation guy with some seasoning.

Rufus Barrell II 1-1 1935
When you hail from a famous family the expectations are going to be high. “Deuce” definitely lived up to that expectation in high school as he never took a loss in any game he appeared in as a pitcher. This was an easy slam dunk 1-1 pick for now defunct Baltimore in 1935. Once Deuce hit class C as an 18year old he quickly learned that professional baseball was so much harder than high school ball in Egypt, Georgia. Then, not even a month into his career he was sidelined with shoulder inflammation for 5 months. Deuce battled back and was able to do enough in the coming seasons to earn a promotion into the Baltimore rotation in 1938 as a 20 year old. In hindsight the move may have been too early but pressure from the fan base and possibly old Rufus himself may have factored into the move. Young Barrell was just hammered in the 11 games he appeared in. Undeterred, Rufus II had a great bounce back campaign in 1939 winning 15 games and posting a 107 ERA+. This season looks even better for Barrell as the first place Cannons have him pitching in the second slot in the rotation. At this writing Rufus II is second in the CA in wins (7) and strikeouts (48), and leads the league in opponents batting average against. (.220). OSA calls Barrell II a very solid investment if he keeps on his current development trend.

George Garrison 1-3 1935
Two picks after Barrell II, Toronto drafted George Garrison with the 3rd overall pick. Garrison, unlike Burns and Barrell II, had a different path to the FABL. From the start of his professional career Garrison has proven to be a workhorse. Garrison threw 200 innings as an 18 year old in class B in his first professional season. As if that wasn’t enough he was promoted at the end of the ‘36 season to A ball where he threw another 18 innings. 1937 saw an increased workload of 276 innings at AA. In 1938 Garrison saw his way to the FABL as a 20 year old but only after throwing 118 innings between AA and AAA along the way. Garrison still had enough in the tank to give the Wolves 99 innings as he finished the year 4-6 with a 4.33 ERA. As the 1939 season approached there was really no question about Garrison’s durability. Garrison would throw 200 innings for the Wolves in ‘39 and win 7 games ranking just a tick above league average as a starter. So far this season Garrison is the 3 man in the rotation and has posted a 5-5 record with a nice strikeout to walks ratio. OSA says elite stuff with excellent command. This is shaping up to be a big year for a kid that is still only 22 years old.

Bill Keith 1-7 1935
Continuing with the ‘35 theme the Stars selected Bill “Kidd” Keith with the 7th pick in the opening round. At 22, Keith has yet to make it out of A ball, but looks like this may be his year to move up the ranks. Currently at Scranton Keith is 6-3 with a 3.28 ERA in 93.1 innings. Keith has also struck out more batters than he has walked so he may yet live up to the OSA prediction of back end starter.

Luis Tapia 1-11 1935
Luis Tapia, the Puerto Rican sensation moved to Brooklyn at a young age and showed enough his senior year of high school for the Sailors to draft the lefty 11th overall. Unfortunately the command that Tapia showed in high school seemed to elude him as a professional early on. In his first year in C ball Tapia walked 62 batters in 118.2 innings. Sometimes a pitcher can get away with a high walk total but in this case Tapia only fanned 10 batters in that same season. In his second year as a pro in ‘37 tapia tore his shoulder and was on the IL for 4 months. Since his return though, he has shown better command. OSA still says that the command will be his downfall but so far this season in 40.1 innings of work at class B Miami, Tapia is 4-1 with a 1.73 ERA and has struck out 19 batters and walked 15. At 23 it is still too early to close the book on this prospect.

Bud Canfield 1-12 1935
We close out 1935 with the Keystones selection of Bud Canfield. Canfield is a bit of an OSA darling even though he missed 5 months in 1938 with an ulnar nerve entrapment. Admittedly it is easy to see why because when Canfield came back healthy in 1939 he tore up AA to the tune of an 11-3 record with a 2.02 ERA. Canfield posted an eye-popping 228 ERA+ in 151.2 innings of work earning him a promotion to AAA, which is where he resides today. Canfield is the 40th ranked prospect in baseball and based on his current performance in Louisville he may be a candidate for a late season call up.

Johnnie Jones 1-4 1936
The New York Stars drafted Jones with 4th overall pick in 1936 and he currently ranks as the 10th best prospect in baseball. His time in New York however was short lived as Jones was part of the mega deal that sent brough Moxie Pidgeon to New York and sent Jones and a few others to the nation's capital. In the Washington system Jones has yet to really take hold but he is a 21 year old pitching at the AA level so a bit of patience is in order. OSA is pretty certain that Jones will one day be an ace of the rotation.

Pete Papenfus 1-6 1936
At the time other GM’s applauded the Cougars for taking “Peter the heater” with the 6th overall pick in the 1936 draft. Papenfus took very little time to establish himself as a professional. Peter started his career in A ball and finished the season in AA. Pap was promoted to AAA for the 1938 season and after going 8-2 as a 20 year old found himself on a train to Chicago to make his FABL debut. Papenfus won another 8 games in his rookie year with the Cougars but also walked 117 batters in 126 innings. In 1939 Papenfus was able to rein in the command and improved on his BB/9 a bit. Peter was also able to show off his blazing stuff by striking out 126 batters in 126 innings. Unfortunately, Papenfus has had a rough beginning to the 1940 season as he has been relegated to the stopper role for the Cougars seeing limited action in the role. OSA feels the control is unreliable and that he will only have success as a back-end starter. However, as a 22 year old playing at the FABL level things could change rapidly for the young hurler.

Wally Doyle 1-8 1936
The Montreal Saints sent scouts all the way down to Waco Texas to see the young arm that was being lauded as one of the best arms to ever come out of Waco and possibly Texas as a whole in Wally Doyle. As a 3 year amateur Doyle finished 29-3 with 503 strikeouts. That was more than enough evidence for the Saints to select the young lefty with the 8th overall pick in 1936. At first Montreal was very patient with Doyle letting him get his professional feet wet at C ball where he had little trouble holding his own. After 127.1 innings it was off to B ball where Doyle threw another 111.1 innings to finish the season. After the ‘37 season Montreal brass may have decided to take the gloves off and just let Doyle go. He started the ‘38 season in AA, made it to AAA, and finished the season in Montreal making his debut as a 19 year old. OSA says Doyle has premium stuff but only calls for him to develop into an emergency starter role. While OSA is routinely wrong it does seem that over the last two seasons Doyle has yo-yo’d between AAA and the FABL. Currently, Doyle is on the IL with a sore elbow and there has not been any indication if he will rehab at AAA or be placed on the active roster.

Al Duster 1-4 1937
Al Duster’s nickname is “Prince of the Prairie” for good reason. Al went 38-4 in 4 years as an amateur in Nebraska. In that time Al “dusted” 637 batters as well making him one of the hottest prospects to ever come out of the flatlands. The Keystones were impressed and drafted Duster 4th overall in 1937. His professional trajectory has been interesting. He was part of a draft day deal that saw the Keystones select Duster but immediately flip him to the Detroit Dynamos for three players, one of which being Jose Serna. Then a year later at the 1938 trade deadline he was dealt in the William Jones deal sending him back to Philadelphia but in this case to the Sailors. Currently, Duster is a member of the Sailors organization but I bet he keeps a packed bag wherever he goes just in case. It will be interesting to see what this has possibly done for his development. At this point in his young career he has pitched for six different clubs as a professional. OSA does not seem to concerned though, they feel Duster has potential to be a #2 starter and he is currently ranked as the 78th best prospect in baseball. Duster is at Peoria (A) this season where owns a 5-3 record with 46 strikeouts in 75.2 innings.

Willie Gonzalez Jr. 1-6 1937
Willie Gonzalez Jr. was supposed to be the arm of the rebuild for the New York Gothams who drafted him 6th overall in 1937. The Milwaukee native started his professional career at Rock Island (C) where he had a rough beginning posting a 3-8 record with an ERA at 3.99 in 88 innings of work. Undeterred, Gonzalez was set to show his stuff the very next year in B ball. Unfortunately for Junior tragedy struck in the form of a torn rotator cuff 5.2 innings into his season. Gonzalez would be on the shelf for close to a year and the Gothams were not prepared to wait and dealt him in the offseason to the Cougars for Sam Hodge. These days OSA does not feel too strongly about Willie’s future, but the Cougars have shown patience with the young righty allowing him to build up his confidence in B ball, where he has put up some real nice numbers over the last two seasons.

Donnie Jones 1-6 1938
The “Mole Killer” was drafted by the Toronto Wolves with the 6th pick in the 1938 draft. While Jones is highly ranked (#9) and OSA thinks he is a future ace the stats have yet to back up the prediction. This could be why the Wolves dealt him for Juan Pomales and Hal Wood. The Cougars, if you had not noticed, love to pick up former top prospects and see if they can cash in with them. The Cougars with Jones, may be starting to see dividends on the deal. This season at AAA Mobile Jones is enjoying his best season as a professional. Donnie is 5-3 with an ERA+ of 109 in 74.1 innings. At only 20 years of age there is still loads of time for Jones to achieve the lofty expectations that have been placed upon his broad shoulders.

Pat Weakley 1-8 1938
Pat Weakley only played one year of high school baseball but what a year it was. In his senior season Pat went 11-0 with a .81 ERA striking out 176 and only walking 17. Montreal jumped upon the opportunity to select him 8th overall in the 1938 draft. OSA calls Weakley one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, however will he ever make it past being a prospect? Pat has unfortunately been riddled with injuries in his short time as a professional. Pat missed almost 3 months in 1939 due to a rotator cuff issue and this season he blew out his elbow and will be gone for 10 months. Only time will tell if Weakley will ever stay healthy enough to develop into the dominating starter Montreal is hoping for.

Marcus Mangum 1-5 1939
The pride of Louisa, Kentucky Marcus Mangum was drafted by the Dynamos with the 5th overall pick in the ‘39 draft. The 5’10” 170 pounder pitched like he was twice that size in high school racking up 37 wins in his 4 seasons of high school ball. Even as a 19 year old OSA is calling for Marcus to be a 4th or 5th starter in the FABL at some point. Professionally it has taken Marcus a bit to find his footing, but after a nice start to this current season, he has earned a promotion and will be taking his talents to Chattanooga (B) for the time being.

Bart Schneider 1-9 1939
Baseball’s great experiment is with the Schneider triplets. The Schneider's terrorized other high school teams in Detroit in the mid to late 30’s. It led to all three members of the Schneider clan to be drafted in succession in 1939. Bart was the last of the triplets to be drafted by Cleveland. Away from his brothers for the first time ever, Bart struggled with command in C ball walking 43 batters in 75.2 innings. However, 1940 has been a different year for Bart as he started out 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA in C ball prompting Cleveland to promote Bart up to A ball where he currently plays with Wilmington. OSA doesn’t feel too strongly about Schneider's chances of cracking into the FABL, but Bart also can play 1B and he does have some strong DNA coursing through his veins.

QUICK HITS

• Toronto has been reviewing its entire minor league system preparing for the new crop of draftees. Although not complete there are a number of players that their next career stop will either be an Indy team or actually working for a living. Management is impressed with the progression of Hank Giordano who has breezed through the Wolves system. The thirteenth pick in last year's draft started in Class B Vancouver, progressed to Davenport before the end of the 1939 season. Began the year in AA Chattanooga with the plan being to have the 19 year old spend the season in the Dixie League but an opportunity presented itself in Buffalo, Giordano has made the most of his chance slashing .358/.414/.396 in his first twelve games.
• Doug Lightbody may just have 1 week left in his big league career. He gets one more chance to string together a few hits or the Cannons plan to waive him with Denny Andrews ready in AAA. Lightbody is 37 hits shy of 2000 but after a couple solid weeks to begin his time in Cincinnati the 36 year old is struggling - just 3 for 21 in June - and would be gone already if he did not have such strong ties with the Cannons General Manager, who originally drafted Lightbody with Brooklyn in 1925.
• It was a bad week for the Cannons finishes with 4 straight losses including a 3 game sweep at the hands of the Kings as they embarked on a long road trip. Cincinnati ownership tells me the Cannons focus has changed to “Win Now” but I do not expect them to make any major moves in the next month and a half.
• Good thing the Stars had planned for catcher Johnny Hopper to come back from his AAA exile this week since callup Ted Hart pulled a hammy. Dave Trowbridge's minimal sprained knee went from 1-2 weeks to uncertain so to be safe the 41 year old was placed on the injured list, which may or may not have cost New York some 1 run games this week. Veteran RF Hank Jones has asked for his walking papers with the news of acquiring OF Chubby Hall. Jones is very capable OF and indeed should be a starter somewhere. Management will consider his release or a trade should someone have interest in him.
• The Stars sent pitcher Vern Hubbard down to AAA to try and find his groove after a terrible start to the year. This allowed up and comer Lou Robertson to step up on recommendation from the scouting director saying it was time. He did well pitching a complete game giving up 4 runs on 10 hits picking up the W vs Cleveland.
• Chicago Chiefs third baseman Bob Martin was back with the team for only a couple of weeks, and now he has torn his ACL. He'll be out until at least next June. It's likely that his time as a regular in the Chiefs lineup is over.
• Chiefs skipper Joe Ward said recently that he considered the start of the Chiefs' run to be when Martin moved to third base so Ron Rattigan could play everyday at first, that was back in spring training prior to the 1936 season. Martin was one of Ward's favorite FABL players even before taking over the Chiefs. His thirties have not been kind to him.
• Which leads down the rabbit hole of looking at Ron Rattigan, who has been the definition of solid since becoming a regular in 1936. He was drafted in 1927 by Baltimore in the 13th round. In his first professional season at class B Charlotte he was awful--and I mean awful--defensively at first. He didn't hit much better either with an OPS+ of just 72. He kept at it, and now I would consider him one the better defensive first basemen in the league.
• Not only is Martin done for the year but the Chiefs also received news this week that outfielder cliff Moss (.306,7,25) will also be sidelined, but in his case it is just a week or two. At least Tom Bird looks like he is recovering from his calf injury. Bird (.313,4,19) had a big week, batting .429 with 3 extra base hits after struggling recently.

• Italy joins the war and strikes at French territory through the Riviera as the Nazis move closer to taking Paris.
• United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull said Italy's entry into the war would "prove a great disappointment to peoples everywhere and a great human tragedy." The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Italy's entrance into the war "will accelerate our efforts to aid the Allies." But he added that the people of the United States "don't desire to enter the war."
• President Roosevelt repeated that all possible help was being extended to the Allies and pointed to Hitler's record in response to a report that the German Chancellor had said he has no plans to invade the Western Hemisphere.
• Mayor LaGuardia appealed to the more than 1 million Italians in the New York metropolitan area to refrain from demonstrations while in Canada, the government ordered police throughout the country to round-up all Italian nationals suspected of being enemies of the country.
• Following the withdrawal of French and British troops from Norway the Germans proclaim victory in that country.
• The Allies supreme leaders meet to plan heroic measure for stemming the German onslaught which by mid-week threatens Paris from three directions but as the week came to a close the Reich army overran Paris.
• As German tanks parade through Paris some leaders in France are suggesting it is time to negotiate terms of surrender with Germany and it appears whether the war goes on for France hinges on a last appeal for aid from the United States made by French Premier Reynaud.
• A German military guard has been placed around the American Embassy in Paris and Ambassador William Bullitt "probably has been asked" to remain on the Embassy grounds.
• War is also breaking out in Africa as British and Italian forces clash on the Egyptian-Libyan frontier while the South African air force has launched assaults on Italian barracks and buildings in Ethiopia.

June 24, 1940
 

JUNE 24, 1940

KINGS AND STARS HEATING UP

The Brooklyn Kings and New York Stars both are making a move in the Continental Association and it is coming at the right time as the front-running Cincinnati Cannons seem to be getting a dose of reality. The often streaky Kings have won 10 of their last 11 games and are 16-7 in June after entering the month 5 games under the break even mark. At 35-31 the Kings are four games over .500 for the first time since August 10 last year but between then and May 30th this year the Kings were awful, posting a 36-78 mark over that time. However, back to back series sweeps of Cincinnati and Philadelphia, combined with taking two of three from the Toronto Wolves over the weekend have Kings fans dreaming of the team perhaps being ready again to more closely resemble the squad that won three straight pennants from 1936-38. Stars fans are also happy once more as their club is showing signs of shaking off their World Championship Series hangover. The Stars have won 7 straight with home sweeps over the Ohio based clubs and are seem to be rebounding after a 9-21 from early May until they won back to back games June 6th and 7th.

At the same time the Cincinnati Cannons finally seemed to realize they have no business being in first place as they have gone 3-11 recently after a very unexpected 38-14 start in their new home. Cincinnati is much improved of course, but one must remember this is a franchise that has spent the past 5 seasons in last place in the Continental Association.

FEDERAL ASSOCIATION
The Federal Association has it's own surprise team as the Philadelphia Keystones continue to challenge for top spot despite owning a terrible 11-18 road record. Going 27-10 at home certainly helps as done finally figuring things out a little bit away from home recently as the Keystones actually have won 6 of their last 9 games on the road but have a very big test ahead of them this week. First up for Philadelphia is an end to their most recent road trip with a 3 game series in Detroit against the third place Dynamos followed by a weekend series at Broad Street Park against the Pittsburgh Miners, a team the second place Keystones trail by just half a game.
With news that the Cincinnati Cannons are cutting him loose, Doug Lightbody's days as a FABL ballplayer appear to have reached their end. Sure there is always a chance another club signs Lightbody and gives him a chance to get the 37 more hits he needs to reach the 2,000 plateau before he hangs up his glove and spikes for good, but the likelihood of that happening is very slim. It was actually a mild surprise that the Cannons picked him up at all when the Brooklyn Kings decided Lightbody's days as a useful ballplayer were over at the conclusion of spring training. But new Cannons head man Tiger Fan, the former architect of the Kings recent dynasty, always had a special place for 'The Mississippi Mouth' in his heart and decided to give the 36 year old a second lease on baseball life.

It looked like the perfect marriage when Lightbody proceeded to go 10-for-21 in his first 6 games as a Cannon but the honeymoon phased ended quickly and since May 10th he has hit just .160. With some talented youngsters at AAA just clamoring to be called up and the Cannons embroiled in a pennant race even Tiger Fan's affection for the man that was his very first FABL draft choice way back in 1925 was not enough to save Lightbody's career.

If this indeed is the end for Lightbody he finishes with some pretty impressive totals: 1,967 career hits in 1,607 games, a lifetime .341 batting average which would presently rank as the 11th best all-time. There are also 2 batting titles and the 1927 Whitney Award that dot Lightbody's resume but despite all of the accomplishments in his 14 years with the Kings plus this brief dalliance as a Cannon his will be a career that forever shall leave many wondering "What if?" What if Lightbody did not suffer that devastating elbow injury on Independence Day in 1926 - one that likely cost the Kings the '26 pennant. It was a precursor to the many ailments he would suffer on the diamond: to his shoulder, his back, his foot, hamstrings - you name the body part and odds are that Doug Lightbody probably missed some time due to an injury to it.

An estimate a couple of seasons back suggested had he remained healthy Lightbody would have played in another 500 games and if so that would mean he would be closing in on his 2,600th hit right now and perhaps more as, if he could hit as well as he did with a broken down body just imagine what he might have accomplished with a healthy one. 3,000 hits. Perhaps a stretch but we will never know what a healthy Doug Lightbody could have accomplished in the sport.

What will his legacy be? Ask any Kings fan who followed the club the past decade and a half and they will tell you that Doug Lightbody is quite likely the greatest Brooklyn ballplayer of all-time. Others have done it since but in 1926 it was unheard of for a player to skip the minor leagues entirely and go straight from the college campus to the big leagues, but Lightbody not only did that but he did it with flair - batting .356 in his first 79 games as a pro against the best competition in the world. The Kings, who finished last in the Continental the year before, were suddenly looking like a championship club and led the way until that dreadful 'pop' was heard in Lightbody's elbow on July 4th that season. He came back next year and enjoyed one of the greatest seasons ever for a Kings hitter (at least until Al Wheeler eclipsed it with a triple crown in 1935) and led Brooklyn to the pennant. Then seven years later, after two straight seasons in which he missed half the year with injury, Lightbody put it all together again and won another batting title despite the fact that most nights his body was wrapped in more tape than Boris Karloff in his recent film "The Mummy".

It was not all rosy with Lightbody. He garnered the nickname "The Mississippi Mouth" because he just wouldn't stop talking, to the point that it did irritate some teammates early in his career. Then there was the famous collapse in the 1927 Series when Lightbody went just 1-for-17 and the Kings were shellacked by the Philadelphia Keystones in 5 games. Lightbody's back was bothering him that series and had made even bending over to tie his shoes difficult for much of the stretch run that year but he never used it as an excuse. The Kings would win 3 more pennants with Lightbody on the roster and finally erased the Curse of Ferdinand Hawkins in 1937 but Doug played sparingly in each of those Series although his pinch-hit double in the 8th inning of Game Two of the '37 Series did help propel Brooklyn to a victory that evened the series and many point to that inning as the moment the Kings took control of the Series away from Pittsburgh. Still critics can easily point to Lightbody's 3-for-25 career WCS batting line as a reason to discredit him.

Did Lightbody do enough to make the Hall of Fame one day? Unfortunately not, in that aspect of his career he probably falls short but he will always have a place in the hearts of Brooklyn. Good luck Doug, where ever the future might take you. You may have finished your career as a Cincinnati Cannon, but you will always be remembered as the heart, and mouthpiece, of the Brooklyn Kings.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This marks the debut column in the Post for our newest columnist, former pro ball player Ernie Herr. A Cincinnati native, Herr was a catcher at Taft High School before going on to be a 3 year starter at Academia Alliance member Grafton College. Selected in the 6th round of the 1919 draft by the Brooklyn Kings, Herr did not break camp with the Kings organization but did sign with the Chicago Cougars, for whom he played one season of Class A ball for Lincoln of the Heartland League before retiring to finish his degree in English at Grafton. He joins the Cincinnati Post after over a decade covering sports for various papers on the east coast.

Hey, Queen City baseball fans! Are you as excited as I am about the newest crop of Cincinnati Cannons? You are probably already through the moon over the amazing season the Cannons have put together so far but I have to tell you, after this draft the future is even brighter for our darlings of the diamond. Picking first and second in the draft, something that has never happened before in the 30 odd years the FABL draft has been around, makes it pretty hard to mess things up but I have to say Cannons Scouting Director Rufus Barrell socked a homerun in his first time actually making the picks, after decades of telling everyone else who they should select as head man at the OSA, the league's scouting agency.

Number one on the Cannons wish list was a power hitter, someone who could take over for Moxie Pidgeon at some point down the road or perhaps arrive even sooner and compliment the veteran slugger by manning first base. Mission accomplished with the selection of 'The Polish Hammer' Dick Blaszak, a New York City high schooler built like a tank who hit .519 with 35 homeruns in 67 career games and was a three-time High School All-American. The Cannons see him very much as a Moxie Pidgeon type player and feel there is an outside chance he may be ready for Monarchs Field by September of 1941.

Number two on the Cannons wish list was a high quality pitcher to replace Gus Goulding, who was dealt to the Gothams over the winter, and compliment Deuce Barrell, Rusty Petrick and the soon to arrive Vic Carroll in the Cannons rotation of the next decade. That mission also appears accomplished with the announcement that AIAA All-American Bill Sohl of Lane State University in Oregon was the Cannons second selection. Sohl came darn close to winning the Frank Christian Trophy as the top college ballplayer in the nation after an impressive 3 year career with the Emeralds that included a 10-4, 2.60 campaign this past season.

Anything after those two is just icing on the draft cake for the Cannons and they decided to stock up with young pitchers in the early rounds of the draft. Rufus Barrell explained the idea was to add some talent to an area that was very thin in the low minors and also nothing adds to an organization's trade capital like a bunch of high ceiling young arms. To that end they added 3 talented high school pitchers in Troy Crockett, Frank Sears and Red Hampton along with college righthander Sam Goodwin. Sears was an honorable mention selection for the All-American team this past season and had committed to Central Ohio University. Who knows, one or two of them may end up in Cincinnati one day but the more likely scenario is the Cannons trade at least some of them over the next two seasons to plus holes at the FABL level in order to aid with a pennant push.

In between those young pitchers the Cannons also went with another power bat, selecting Vern Wilson out of City College of Los Angeles. Wilson, like Bill Sohl was a first team All-American selection and his 17 homeruns this year were the second most ever hit by a college player in the post feeder league era.

The Cannons also drafted a player with a Hall of Fame pedigree by selecting outfielder Fred Waggoner in the 10th round. The 19 year old is the grandson of the legendary John Waggoner. Fred's father Joe Waggoner also played college ball and briefly in the minor leagues.

DRAFT NOTES: Sources within the Cannons confirm the organization at some disappointment on missing out on the opportunity to select Cincinnati born pitcher Ralph Millsap. There was much debate with their own 6th round pick on whether they should use it on Hampton or Millsap, who while born in Cincinnati grew up and played his high school ball in Louisville. In the end the decision was made to go with Hampton and hope Millsap would be available with their second pick of the sixth round but the Philadelphia Keystones derailed that plan, snatching Millsap immediately after the Cannons claimed Hampton. The Keystones, ironically, say they almost grabbed Hampton in the fifth round and had planned on taking him but settled for Millsap after the Cannons drafted Hampton. Louisville is home to the Keystones top farm team and as the story goes, Keystones scouting director Harry Dunn was in town scouting around the Union League and visiting the AAA Derbies and heard scuttlebutt about this lanky lefty from Trinity High School.

Perhaps used to the habit of making his draft lists public from his days at the OSA, following the draft Rufus Barrell agreed to release the players he had listed as his personal top ten from this draft class. The list is as follows:

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Jiggs McGee takes a quick tour of the 16 FABL ballclubs and provides an observation or two about each of them. Nothing specific, this column is all about whatever catches Jiggs eye:

BOSTON- Is John Edwards (7-5, 3.02) starting to put it altogether on the mound. Now 24, the Minutemen acquired the 1933 third overall pick from the Cannons prior to the 1938 season and Edwards was .500 each of his first two years in the Fed. He was slightly above average if you trust ERA+ as the judge in '38 and slightly below last year. But this season, especially the last 6 weeks, it seems like Edwards may finally be taking the next step. The stretch of solid outings began May 18th with his first shutout of the season and a gem of an outing in a 2 hitter against St Louis. He lost the next start 6-1 to Detroit despite surrendering only 6 hits, although 3 of them were longballs. His record is only 4-4 during that stretch but in 9 starts I would consider 8 of them to be pretty solid outings and 4 to be excellent including a pair of road wins last week, blanking the Pioneers 3-0 on a 6 hitter and then topping Detroit 6-3 while allowing just 1 earned run in 8 innings of work.

We have often touched on the great 1933 Hartford High School rotation that saw Edwards, the Chiefs Al Miller and Pepper Tuttle of the Keystones all get drafted very high (Edwards 3rd overall, Miller 4th overall and Tuttle in the 4th round) but what is mentioned less often is the 1932 Hartford HS staff was fronted by Lefty Allen, who was taken 4th overall by Pittsburgh the year before the other three were selected.

How about this for a high school rotation
Amazingly, despite having Lefty Allen, Al Miller, John Edwards and Pepper Tuttle at his disposal, Manager Sam Vreeland could only guide the Blue Sox to a 20-20 finish that season, and they failed to make the playoffs the following year with all but Allen back. Fortunately Vreeland, who still sits in the available staff pool to this day, has never managed to secure another job after the demise of the feeder leagues. Vreeland did enjoy a brief big league career, not surprisingly as a pitcher, so he probably had a pretty good influence on those four but how he kept trotting Randall, Aldredge and Campbell out on the mound in 1932 is beyond me. Perhaps a great pitching coach but just an awful manager.

BROOKLYN- While Tom Barrell (4-9, 5.00) struggles the young guns have taken over on the Brooklyn mound. Art White (8-3, 2.69) was expected. He has been pretty good for a couple of years now as has Bob Cummings (6-6, 3.50) and Stumpy Beaman (6-4, 2.43) has been a top prospect for a while. It is the 5th man in the rotation that is the big surprise. Just who is Eddie Hite (4-1, 2.16). Certainly far from being young, the 36 year old was originally a 7th round pick of the Baltimore Cannons way back in 1922. Hite spent a bunch of time with independent teams but finally made his FABL debut in 1927 as a 23 year old, going 14-15. He spent parts of 4 seasons with the Pioneers and led the Fed in losses with 19 in 1929. He had brief stops with the Sailors and Keystones before Brooklyn claimed him off waivers two years ago, primarily to be used as depth at AAA. After being claimed on waivers twice, a rule 5 pickup once and released 8 times in his career Hite finds himself in the Brooklyn rotation. He has pitched primarily out of the pen but joined the rotation a couple of weeks ago. All he has done since is win all three of his starts. While one was not a very good outing - he allowed 6 runs on 12 hits over 6 innings but got plenty of run support in an 11-6 win over the Sailors - the other two have been gems. He beat Toronto 8-1 on a complete game 6 hitter in which the only run he allowed was unearned and then yesterday he took care of the Wolves with another complete game 6 hitter, a 6-1 win. It is highly unlikely he has suddenly at age 36 become an above average FABL starting pitcher but Hite and the Kings will enjoy the ride while they can.

CHIEFS- Rabbit Day is 8-5 with a 2.88 era so far this season. At this pace he might just end up with his 6th 20-win season in his great career. He is come within a whisker of twenty two other times winning 19 in back to back yeas for the Cannons starting in 1931 and had an 18 win season for the Chiefs in 1937. Only once in his career has Day had a losing season. That was last year when he fell to 14-16 for the Chiefs. It would be great to see the 36 year old have a couple more 20 win seasons left in him and even better to see him get the 43 more W's he needs to reach 300 for his career. Day also has 6 career WCS victories, trailing only Jim Golden, former teammate (in 2 locations) Jim Lonardo, Hall of Famer Woody Trease and 19th century star Charlie Wilson in that category.

COUGARS- The Cougars sure do love to draft and they have made an art of acquiring extra picks. 16 in all over the first 10 rounds this year by my quick count and that has been a trend in Chicago for years. Smart thinking to as they get those extra lottery tickets in hopes of landing a guy or two that pays off and for those that don't, well they simply move them a year or two later for more picks in rounds 6-10 so they can rinse and repeat the process.

CINCINNATI- There has always been plenty of publicity around the Cannons pitchers taken in the first round like Rufus Barrell, Rusty Petrick and about to be promoted Vic Carroll but it is the much less heralded Butch Smith who is leading the Continental Association in ERA. The 28 year old Smith has always been pretty stingy at giving up runs but only had 16 career FABL starts under his belt entering this season. He has done well with his starting opportunity this year and at 8-4, 2.37 has been Cincinnati's most effective starter in a season full of solid pitching performances from the Cannons.

CLEVELAND-You really have to feel for Mel Carrol. He was on some bad teams in Washington and now Cleveland, despite a solid second place finish a year ago, is looking like a team in need of a rebuild. Despite the lack of team success over the years, Carrol's club's could always count on the 28 year old third baseman to hit the ball. He is doing it again this year, batting .381 with 7 homers, numbers very much in line with his career average totals of a .361 batting average and 17 homers per 154 games.

DETROIT- Some of my contemporaries in the newspaper business have been quick to condemn Sal Pestilli because he does not walk enough. While I can't argue that fact, as Sal has only walked 18 times this season, I can say that is not something I personally care about because of what else he brings to the table. I, and I am sure those sitting in the big chairs in Detroit would agree, prefer to see Sal swing for the fences. He has already connected for 17 homers this season, and 125 in less than 500 games so far in his career. Sal does not strike out either, just 10 this year and only 46 in over 2200 plate appearances in his 4 seasons in Detroit. So he makes contact, quite often very big contact. While I would love to see his .268 batting average be over .300 like it was the first two seasons of his career I still say if I had my pick of any position player in the game right now to start a team with there is no one I would take ahead of Sal Pestilli.

MONTREAL- Taking two of three games over the weekend from Cleveland managed to lift the Saints out of last place but it was still a losing week (2-4) thanks to starting it off with 3 losses to the Cannons. There are some positives in Montreal such as catcher Adam Mullins (.313,2,26) having another strong season and Red Bond's (.339,14,42) continued ascension toward being considered one of the best players in the game but there are also a lot of worries beyond the fact the Saints appear destined for their 5th straight finish in the second division. Pitching health in particular as top prospect Pat Weakley - their 1938 first rounder - blew out his elbow early in the season while the 19 year old was pitching in an A ball game. Second year man Bill Stewart (0-1, 2.84) ended his season practically before it began when the 24 year old former 3rd round pick suffered a devastating injury in just his second start of the year. Then last month Wally Doyle, the Waco Kid who was their 1936 first rounder - hurt his elbow and has not pitched since May 23rd. Doyle is said to be close to returning but now it's Bill Ross's turn to suffer an elbow injury. Hardly a top prospect, the 27 year old Ross (3-8, 4.92) is a serviceable back of the rotation arm for Montreal but he is expected to be out for 2 months.

NY STARS- The Stars had a week worthy of a team called the defending champions, winning all 7 of their games including a sweep of the first place Cincinnati Cannons in 4 games over the weekend. With 10 wins in their last 13 contests, things might be looking up for the Big Apple boys. They are likely still very concerned about the catching situation. Johnny Hopper is back from two very successful weeks in L.A. where he hit .333, but he did not bring his hitting stick with him as Hopper went just 2-for-22 with the Stars last week and in the process lowering his season average back under the .200 mark.

NY GOTHAMS- The Gothams just seem like a team destined to have pitching problems. Even when things go well issues, often in the form of injuries, occur. Nate Spear's (3-6, 3.96) injury woes are well documented. Now it is 26 year old Bob Adams (2-3, 3.72) that is cause for concern. He missed the final month of the season last year and had already made two different trips to the injured list this year when, in just his third start back from a shoulder injury, he tweaked his back and will likely need to miss at least two starts. Adams is the final tie to the trade that sent Max Morris from the Gothams to the Foresters in 1932. The other three players New York received in return are long gone. John Turner is in Pittsburgh after spending time with the Keystones and in the Great West League with independent Hollywood. Pete Thomas never made it to New York but did play briefly in Detroit and is now with the Indy entry in Syracuse while Alex Thompson is retired but did appear in 177 games for the Gothams over several seasons following the deal.

KEYSTONES- The Keystones finally got some road wins, going 6-3 so far on this trip and within a half game of top spot in the Fed. They are also challenging for the league lead in great nicknames with Blue Collar Billy Woytek, Hard Boiled Henry Koblenz, Bobby 'The Georgia Jolter' Barrell, Sig 'The Boardwalk Bopper' Stofer, Walt 'Dinosaur' Potter and Bob 'Zombie' Land. I can't wait until Davey 'Crawfish' Robicheaux and John 'Rut the Nut' Rutter eventually get the call from the minors to join them.

SAILORS- 32 year old Walt Wells is quietly putting together what is shaping up to be the best season of his career. A late bloomer - he was a 1926 6th round pick but did not make his FABL debut until 1935 at the age of 27 - Wells leads the CA in wins after a very solid outing in a 4-2 complete game victory over the Chicago Cougars yesterday.

PITTSBURGH- Lefty Allen is well on his way to a 4th straight season with 200 plus strikeouts. The pride of Hartford High School has 94 already this season to go with a 10-4 record. Must have been a bit of a scare in Pittsburgh when Mahlon Strong left yesterday's game with an injury. Minors training staff say it is nothing serious, just a tweaked back but it ends a very impressive string for Strong as he went almost a full calendar year without an injury - which is a very rare accomplishment for the often hurt slugger.

ST LOUIS- This is quickly becoming a year to forget in St Louis. Sam Sheppard (4-5, 2.45) finally starts to pitch well again but Buddy Long (4-10,4.35) has had a complete collapse and Jake Smith (0-5, 6.46) is in even worse shape. Add in yet another injury to David Abalo (6-4, 4.21) and it is easy to see why the Pioneers are at the bottom of the Fed.

TORONTO- The Wolves seem to have no shortage of offense this year but you have to think they will find room for Ockie Holliday in their outfield very soon. Now 24, the 1937 second team AIAA All-American is having another great season at AAA Buffalo (.332,8,53) and deserves to make his FABL debut soon.

WASHINGTON- Harry Shumate (.219,2,24) is off to a rough start. A .310 career hitter has seen his on base percentage dip by close to 100 points from a year ago and with just 2 homers (after career best 20 last season) the 30 year old has seen his slugging percentage fall by over 200 points. He is still listed as one of the Eagles top players but if this continues you have to wonder how long he can stay in the middle of the batting order, or the starting lineup at all.

QUICK HITS

• Time to get the All-Star ballots in. This year's game will be held at Thompson Field in Detroit and is just a day over two weeks away. The Continental stars prevailed 6-3 last year in Cleveland with the Toronto Wolves Fred McCormick winning his second straight player of the game award.
• The Keystones have been great this season, and everyone knows about their pitching, but did any non-Keystone fan know about Chuck Hood? An under the radar prospect, he never cracked the top 100, but the former 4th Rounder got two games in 1938. He was a perfect 1-for-1 with an RBI single, but last year hit just .253/.368/.287 (83 OPS+) with 3 doubles and 9 RBIs in a few more then 100 trips to the plate. This season, the 24-year-old seems to have broken out, hitting .355/.432/.480 (155 OPS+) and leading the FA batting race by almost a full 30 points. He added 10 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, and 34 RBIs with an impressive 26-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Sure, hitting ahead Blue Collar Billy, the Georgia Jolter, and Hard Boiled Henry might help a bit, but without such a great season from the Keystones two hitter, they may not be in striking distance of another FA pennant
• Gene Stevens, the veteran castoff, has now thrown 2 shutouts in a row for the Pittsburgh Miners. The 34 year old, who last pitched in FABL with the New York Stars in 1938, is 3-0 with a 0.74 and 1 save since being promoted from AAA St Paul in May. He joined the Miners rotation June 5th and beat the Gothams 4-3 before throwing shutouts over St Louis and the Chicago Chiefs.
• Toronto moves rookie Juan Pomales to the 'pen after four less than satisfactory starts, he will continue to patrol RF versus LH starters. Ockie Holliday is on a 20 game hitting streak, Giordano continues to hit in Buffalo, these two players are going to lead to some tough decisions, sooner rather than later, for Wolves management . The Nickels are leading the Union for the first time in recent memory.
• With Vic Carroll now 7-2, 3.48 at Indianapolis and Glenn Payne struggling his last two starts it looks like the 1939 top draft pick will make his FABL debut this week. To clear room for the 21 year old in Cincinnati the Cannons sent rule 5 pickup Art Black back to the Chicago Cougars. The 30 year old was 1-0 with a 6.57 era in 7 relief appearances this season.
• The Brooklyn Kings have always been a streaky team and they have a real positive one going right now. With 10 wins in their last 11 outings the Kings move into third place and at 4 games over .500 (35-31) have hit a high water mark for the season.
• We see a lot of pitchers that passed through Detroit the last few seasons having very good seasons and/or starts to their careers. Burns, Wallace, Robertson, Beaman, Walls, Jack Wood, Jones, “Superstar” Murphy and Slaney.
• One of those, Lou Robertson is having an explosive entry into FABL with the New York Stars. 3-0, 8 K, 1.93 ERA in his first 3 outings.
• Freddie Farhat of the Detroit World raised this question about Cleveland's struggles. "Is it the lack of success on the field for the Foresters this year or the early decline of his skills that is seeing SS George Dawson have the worst season of his career? His fielding numbers have been in a serious decline for the last two years."
• To which a couple of other Federal scribes weighed in. Bob Stewart of the Washington Times Herald feels more research is necessary but his initial speculation is perhaps since the league as a whole has taken a defense first approach for shortstops, and since ZR is vs average at that position, then it makes sense that Dawson's defense has lost some value compared to the rest of the league. You can see a similar drop in Harry Barrell's ZR, actually, including the randomly amazing 1937. Long-time Chicago Herald-Examiner editor Percy Sutherland concurs, adding "I think it's less Dawson's skills deteriorating (although at 29 he is likely losing a step), but that there has been an influx of good shortstops who are only 23 or 24 years old (Charlie Artuso, Jim Hensley, Lew McClendon, Frank Davis) and this is pushing Dawson down to the middle of the pack. He is not hitting at all this season which hurts his value more than a little defensive decline. Harry Barrell, by the way, is still far ahead of any other shortstop in the league.
• Sutherland also feels a big part of the St Louis Pioneers woes this season can be blamed on their infield defense as shortstop Ivan Cameron's sophomore season is a bit of a mess defensively.

• New French Premier Marshal Philippe Petain says his country must lay down it's arms and ask Germany for peace. Petain declared that he spoke "with heavy heart" in an address of surrender that came just hours after he replaced Paul Reynaud, who had pledged to fight to the finish, as Premier of the beaten nation.
• Britain pledges to carry on the war with Germany alone but British sources believe that despite the French offer to sue for peace, France will carry on the war in the theaters outside French soil.
• Prime Minister Winston Churchill proclaimed to his Parliament and people the beginning of "the battle for Britain" and declared direly that its loss would plunge even the United States "in the abyss of a new dark age."
• As Hitler and Mussolini meet to discuss response to French request for peace, they are also said to be finalizing joint plans that would break forever British influence on the European continent.
• Hands off, U.S. warns Axis serving notice to Germany and Italy that it will enforce the Monroe Doctrine by refusing to recognize any change in sovereignty of the French, British and Dutch possessions in the western hemisphere.
• President Roosevelt seeks to form a Western Trade front, uniting the 22 nations of the western hemisphere, including Canada, in a tight economic union to present a solid front against the economic upheavals in the rest of the world.

HELP WANTED- FORESTERS SEEK NEW HEAD MAN

For anyone not already in the league who is following along here is a perfect opportunity for you to join in on the fun. The Cleveland Foresters General Manager position has come open. Those following here likely realize already it is a very active league but it is also a great group of GMs who are always willing to help someone new to our league, or new to playing stats-only, learn the ropes. The new General Manager in Cleveland will have some nice pieces to work with but the club does need some overhauling as while they are coming off a second place finish last season they have gotten off to a slow start this year.

The Cleveland Foresters have a rich history dating back to 1890 in the old Border Association. The club seemed snake bitten for years as they were the second to last FABL club to win a World Championship Series despite being the initial home of the greatest slugger in the game - Max Morris. Cleveland won a Continental Association pennant in 1901 but lost in the WCS to Pittsburgh (it would be the Miners only WCS title to date despite playing in 8 of them). The Foresters did not win their second pennant until 1917 when they were led by a 22 year old two-way player named Max Morris. Morris won 21 games on the mound that season and joined 24 year old teammate Mose Smith (27-17) to form a formidable 1-2 pitching punch but it was at the plate where Morris (.318,13,50) really shined, leading the CA in homers. The pennant did not come easy for Cleveland that year as they needed a 1 game playoff to defeat Montreal, taking that thrilling contest by a 1-0 score. In the Series Cleveland again came up short as the Chicago Chiefs finally snapped a 35 year title drought with four games to two win over the Foresters. Both Cleveland wins in the series came with Morris on the hill but his destiny would lie in the outfield, not on the mound.

By 1919 Morris, who preferred to be an everyday outfielder, was granted his wish and nearly won the Triple Crown, falling just short by finishing second to the great Baltimore batter Powell Slocum in batting average. Despite Morris' best efforts the Foresters finished a disappointing 7th. It would be the end of Morris' first stint in Cleveland as, wanting to play for a winner he demanded a trade, and was dealt to St Louis of the Federal Association. Ironically the players the Foresters received in return actually helped Cleveland win it's third pennant. The Federal Association champs ended up being the St Louis Pioneers, led by Max Morris, who would go 7-for-20 with 5 rbi's in the Series and lead St Louis to a win in 5 games.

The Foresters would not win another pennant until 1934, which was Morris' second full season back in Cleveland after a stop with the New York Gothams following his Pioneer days. During the time without the legendary slugger the Foresters franchise had a couple of close calls, such as finishing just 2 games out but in fourth place in the wild 1927 season (the second one in the human GM era) but for the most part Cleveland was a second division ballclub.

As the decade change to the 1930's so did the fate of the Foresters.
Morris arrived back on the shores of Lake Erie midway through the 1932 season and Cleveland, now a rising young team with talented players like Moxie Pidgeon, Leon Drake, 22 year old shortstop George Dawson and newly acquired veteran catcher T.R. Goins finished second in 1933 before their break through 1934 campaign. 1934 featured the first of several tight races for the Foresters with another talented young squad that, like Cleveland, had never won a WCS in the Brooklyn Kings. The Foresters would beat Brooklyn by a single game for the pennant in both '34 and again in '35 but the magical season was that 1934 campaign as Cleveland finally won it's first WCS.

That '34 Series saw Cleveland fall behind 3 games to one to the New York Gothams only to win three straight including an 18-3 laugher in Game Seven in which Morris had 3 hits, including a homerun and drove in 4. 1935 was a repeat of the '34 Series but this time Morris was injured, at age 41 and with 691 career homeruns on his resume his back was starting to give out. The Gothams waltzed to a Series win in 5 games and Cleveland has not played October baseball since.

Morris left the club in a trade to Detroit prior to the 1937 season and after one year in the Motor City as a player-manager he retired, taking his 3,651 career hits and 711 homeruns and heading off to be enshrined in Boone County (site of FABL's Hall of Fame). As for Cleveland, in the four seasons since their last pennant they have finished in the first division each time and always within 10 games of the leader including last season when they surprised some observers by finishing just 2 games back of the New York Stars.

This year has seen a rough start for the club and they presently sit at the bottom of the Continental Association standings. Many of the stars from the pennant winners are gone but there is still a lot of talent including third sacker Mel Carrol, a 28 year old who hit over .400 in 1937, becoming the first player to accomplish that since Morris did it in 1925 when he was with St Louis. There is also shortstop George Dawson, now a seasoned veteran at age 29 and still one of the better infielders in the league. 28 year old Bill Moore mans first base and not so long ago the two-time Christian Trophy winner (College baseball MVP) was named the greatest player in the first 25 years of AIAA college baseball. All the years of high finishes has left the Foresters with a somewhat depleted minor league system but pitcher Dick Lamb, a 20 year old 1938 third round pick, shows promise as does first round pick Richie Hughes, a high school All-American as a junior but just missed that designation this season.

You have been reading about this great league here. Now is your chance to be a part of the rich history that is FABL baseball. You can either DM me here or contact our commissioner directly. He goes by legendsport on this board. All of us in FABL look forward to meeting the new GM of the Cleveland Foresters.

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