FROSH PESTILLI LEADS 1934 AIAA ALL-AMERICANS
There were some drastic changes to the college landscape in Figment Baseball this season with the expansion of the AIAA from a 40 school feeder league to a non-feeder system that now includes 261 Division One schools and more than 200 more at the D-2 and D-3 levels. It was one of the new AIAA division one member teams that provided us with the most exciting player of the 1934 college season. Sal Pestilli, a freshman outfielder who stayed in his native Rhode Island to play his college ball at Narragansett took the AIAA by storm as he posted triple crown winning numbers while leading the entire college ranks in average (.409), homers (16) and rbi's (66). Pestilli, who won't be draft eligible until 1936 is already drawing comparisons to another very talented college outfielder in former Commonwealth Catholic and current Montreal Saint Vic Crawford. It remains to be seen if Pestilli can duplicate Crawford's achievement of being named a first team All-American in each of his 3 seasons but if 1934 is any indication Pestilli is well on his way.
Here is the 1934 All-American Team.
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1934 AIAA ALL-AMERICANS
FIRST TEAM
C Adam Mullins Eastern Oklahoma JR .317,3,31
1B Joe Crosson Miami State SO .277,11,39
2B Jack Gunter Mississippi A&M JR .322,1,37, 35 SB
SS Tip Harrison Bluegrass State SR .301,6,40 31 SB
3B Phil McKenna Coastal Cal. JR .306,8,46
OF Sal Pestilli Narragansett FR .409,16,66 33 SB (college triple crown)
OF Bob Donoghue Iowa A&M JR .317,15,50 11 SB
OF Pete Wood Eastern State FR .366,2,49 32 SB
P Phil Gregg Redwood University JR 12-2, 2.38, 1.16 WHIP 111 K's
SECOND TEAM
C John McLemore Tallmadge State JR .269,10,43
1B Harry Pickering George Fox JR .281,6,34, 40 SB
2B Babe Clark Marquis College JR .301,1,54 32 SB
SS Bill Sorrells Adirondack State JR .307,9,48 39 SB
3B Frank Covarrubias Piedmont Univ. SR .338,2,36 32 SB
OF Izzy Sevilla Murfreesboro Tech SO .314,9,50 39 SB
OF Dick Smith Western Iowa JR .300,12,43 32 SB
OF Larry Ryder George Fox SO .315,12,42 11 SB
P Clarence Linden Frankford State SO 10-3, 2.50, 1.15 WHIP 104 K's
This is the 8th season that the Figment Sporting Journal has named a college All-American team. Let's take a look back at that first class in 1927 and see what they have accomplished since. For that first year of the award there was only a first team selected.
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A LOOK BACK AT THE 1927 AIAA ALL-AMERICANS
C Frank Simpson Opelika State
1B Ted Parker St Patrick's
2B Sam Orr Henry Hudson
SS Steve Clarke Chicago Poly
3B Randy Fargo Boulder State
OF John Collins Liberty
OF Vic Crawford Commonwealth Catholic
OF Nellie Dawson Wisconsin St
P Huck Moore Commonwealth Catholic
FRANK SIMPSON- 1927 would be the pinnacle of Frank Simpson's baseball career as the catcher from Opelika State never amounted to much in pro ball. It was his only year as a starter for the Wildcats and Simpson made the most of, batting .407 with 7 homers and 43 rbi's in 51 games as he helped Opelika State win the College World Series. He was a 21st round pick of the Boston Minutemen that winter but was released after spring training. The Philadelphia Keystones signed him and he spent 5 seasons in the low minors but never played more than 47 games in any season. Reading the writing that was clearly on the wall Simpson retired following the 1932 season and is now putting his college education to work in his home state of California.
TED PARKER- Like Simpson, the former St Patrick's College star first baseman is no longer involved in baseball. He was a 3 year starter in college and 1927, his sophomore season, was clearly his best year as he led the entire AIAA in hitting with a .436 average while also contributing 11 homers. He struggled through his draft year of 1928 but was selected in the 8th round by the Toronto Wolves. He showed some flashes as a rookie pro at Class C in 1928, hitting for the cycle in a game, but batted just .248 with 11 homers in 121 games that year. He would play just 3 more games in the Toronto system the following year before being released and retiring from the sport.
SAM ORR - Orr was a freshman at Henry Hudson University in 1927 and his .425,19,63 season allowed him to edge out another stellar freshman in Jake Shadoan for All-American honours. While he would not make the All-American team again he did fashion a very strong career for the Explorers and was selected 5th overall by the Toronto Wolves in the 1929 FABL draft, 2 slots ahead of his old college rival Shadoan. After a year in the minors he debut with the Wolves in 1931 and has been a regular in Toronto ever since, fashioning a .296 career batting average in 516 FABL games. At 26 he looks to be hitting the prime of a pretty good career.
STEVE CLARKE - The shortstop on the All-American team has followed Orr much of his career. He was a freshman at Chicago Poly that year, which was his only All-American season. He was drafted in the same draft as Orr, by Toronto and one round after the second baseman. Clarke's path to Toronto has taken longer than Orr's, although they were teammates for much of the 1930 season in Class B Vancouver but Clarke did not get the call to Toronto until midway through last season. He is with the Wolves again this year and a teammate of Orr's but serving as a utility infielder on the club.
RANDY FARGO - The third baseman from Boulder State was a first team All-American in both his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Grizzlies before being drafted in the 5th round by Cleveland in 1929, following his junior season. He has not had much success at the pro level but remains in the Foresters organization, splitting this season so far between A ball and AA.
JOHN COLLINS - Another of the great group of freshman in 1927, the outfielder from Liberty College would also be named a first team All-American following his sophomore season when he hit .404. He is third all-time in career AIAA homers with 56 and helped the Bells to back to back College World Series finals in his last two seasons with the school. He was a 1929 second round pick of Montreal and was a consistent top 100 prospect before the Saints traded him at the 1932 draft to move up and select another future All-American outfielder in Pablo Reyes. Collins got a brief taste of big league ball with the Saints in 1930 but did not get back to the majors until Pittsburgh promoted him last season. He is still trying to establish himself as an everyday player at age 25 but does have a .398 career FABL average with 3 homers in 83 big league at bats.
VIC CRAWFORD - The three time first team All-American from Commonwealth Catholic was recently named the second greatest college player in the first 25 years of the AIAA. Only Calvin Dybas hit more career homers in college than the 67 Crawford belted and he was MVP of the 1927 College World Series despite being on the losing end. Taken third overall by the Montreal Saints in the 1929 FABL draft, Crawford made the first All-Star team in FABL history and is a .298 hitter with 15 homers in 291 career big league games. Playing half his games in the cavernous Parc Cartier has certainly affected his power numbers but Crawford is clearly a quality FABL hitter.
NELLIE DAWSON - Clearly the forgotten man of that amazing group of freshman outfielders, the former Wisconsin State Brewer was selected 13th overall by the New York Stars - practically right in the middle between fellow All-American outfielders Crawford and Collins, but he has yet to make his big league debut. Dawson, who was also a second team All-American his sophomore season, remains in the Stars system and has split this season between AA and AAA. He can still hit, batting .402 in his minor league stops this season, after twice hitting over .400 in college and finishing with a .399 career average in the AIAA.
HUCK MOORE - Moore was a junior at Commonwealth Catholic that season and went 11-0 with a 1.83 ERA and co-held the single season college record for wins until it was broken in 1931 by Bob Cummings from College of San Diego. He 29 career college wins are second only to Tom Barrell, but Barrell who was 10-3 that season, needed 4 years to Moore's three of college ball. Moore won a college World Series with the Knights in 1926 and led them to the finals again in 1927 before being drafted 6th overall by the New York Gothams. He came into pro ball with very high expectations and looked quite good in A ball (12-10, 3.10) in 1928 but has struggled at higher levels including a terrible 1-18, 9.05 season at AAA Toledo in 1932. Now 28 years old he remains in Toledo and is still struggling this season with a 7-6 record but a 7.27 era out of the Tornados bullpen. He did make one FABL appearance, a start a year ago and was very good allowing just 1 earned in 5 innings of work but was tagged with the loss. So far it has been Moore's only taste of the big leagues.
So you can see from the above look back at the 1927 All-Americans that being named a top college player is no guarantee of future success as a professional. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the 1934 All-Americans, especially Sal Pestilli. Sal, by the way is one of three brothers looking to make their marks on big league baseball. All three are outfielders with Alf being the oldest. Alf is a junior and draft eligible this season after hitting .294 with 12 homers and 44 rbi's playing alongside Sal at Narragansett College. Alf, who was born in Italy before the family came to the US and settled in Rhode Island, is not considered a high draft prospect. The youngest brother is 14 year old Tony, who just completed his freshman season at Westerly (RI) high school. Tony, who likely has his eyes focused on a college career at Narragansett like his brothers, hit .485 in 23 games of prep competition this year.