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Jiggs McGee · 07-06-2021, 01:03 PM

THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL

September 13, 1937

CHAMPS CLIMB BACK UP FROM CANVAS

The Chicago Chiefs have shown the gritty determination of a World Championship prize fighter as they have recovered from what some observers felt was a devastating haymaker in the form of a 7-16 run to start the month of August. However, the champs got back up off the canvas by winning 11 of their last 15 games and are back to within a game and a half of first place in the Federal Association. The Chiefs had been on fire for nearly a full calendar year starting in late June a year ago when Pete Layton and Rabbit Day joined the fold. Those two helped carry the club through one of the best second halves in Federal Association history and then they rolled over Brooklyn in the World Championship Series. That pattern of dominance continued this season as they began the 1937 campaign with a 31-13 record. However when the temperatures heated up in the summer the Chiefs suddenly got ice cold, winning just 19 of 51 contests starting with a July 2-4th sweep at the hands of St Louis.

Just over 2 weeks ago, on August 29th the Chiefs had fallen 7 and a half games off the pace and were reeling after absorbing a 3 game sweep at the hands of Washington and with the second place Pittsburgh Miners and front-running Boston Minutemen heading to Whitney Park things could have been fatal for the Chiefs hopes of defending their title. Instead, a game Chicago team regained it's feet with a dramatic 3-2 come from behind walk-off win over Pittsburgh. Pinch-hitter Len Jones would be the hero on that late August afternoon as he delivered a dramatic pinch-hit two-run single with one out in the bottom of the ninth but it was also the effort of Day, going the distance while allowing 2 Pittsburgh runs on 6 hits to improve his record to 14-10, that picked up the Chiefs. Chicago would beat Pittsburgh the next day as well, and then take 3 straight from Boston. Now as the temperatures are cooling with autumn in the air, there is also a air of confidence in the Chicago Chiefs who, following a 5-2 week, are now just a game and a half back of first place Boston with two games coming up between the two foes starting Tuesday at Cunningham Field. The work is far from done for Chicago as these next 9 games really are the season for the Chiefs. They are all on the road, 2 with Boston, 3 with Pittsburgh, and 4 with two clubs against whom we have losing records: Philadelphia and Washington.

It is the Minutemen who are feeling the pressure now as Boston dropped 3 straight over the weekend and have won just 4 of their last 10 ballgames. Below is a look at the Fed pennant race as of August 29th and today.

Starting with that August 29th win over Pittsburgh Rabbit Day is back to the pitcher that went 15-1 in the second half of the season for Chicago a year ago. Day has pitched 4 complete games, winning all 4 with a 2.00 era. His stretch actually goes back further than that as Day has gone the distance and won each of his last 6 starts. Pete Layton and Ron Rattigan, two key pieces of the Chicago attack have also been on fire of late and are making it hard for anyone to bet against the Chiefs getting back to the World Championship Series.

The fact that the Pittsburgh Miners are still in the race is a testament to their depth. Injuries just keep coming and the Miners take them in stride and keep on rolling along. Sandy Grabow (.279,4,31) is the latest and this one really hurts as Pittsburgh just shifted Grabow to shortstop a week ago after Les Tucker went down for the year. With those two down for the count it might be a good time for an enterprising young lad to get his resume into Fitzpatrick Park, as the Miners might just be that desperate for shortstop help down the stretch. It has been just a brutal year for the previously very healthy Grabow. He missed a month in May with an elbow injury and then just after returning to the lineup he sprained his thumb and missed much of July and August. Now this week he hurt his thumb again and is done for the year. Imagine what the Miners might have done had they been healthy all year.

The defending Continental Association champions from Brooklyn may also be back in the race. Brooklyn appeared all but out of the race after a 17-24 stretch over the summer that coincided with hot stretches from Cleveland and Philadelphia - their two main competitors for the pennant. On the morning of August 18th the Kings were 8 and a half games back of Cleveland with the Sailors in second place, 2.5 games behind the front-running Foresters. Brooklyn was also without it's two best pitchers in Tom Barrell and Joe Shaffner, but since that date the Kings have won 17 of 25 games while Cleveland has gone 7-17 and Philadelphia has posted a 13-11 record.

Barrell and Shaffner are both back for Brooklyn but with mixed results. Barrell, who has won the last 3 CA Allen Awards, is back but clearly not 100% having dropped his last 2 starts while posting an 8.53 era in the process. On the other hand Shaffner is 4-0 with 3 shutouts and a 0.25 era to improve his season totals to 17-3, 2.47 and ignite talk that the 33 year old 3-time All-Star may finally win his first Allan Award. There is much work left for Brooklyn to do in order to catch Philadelphia and it begins with a key five game stretch this week when Brooklyn heads to Cleveland for 3 games followed by two in Philadelphia against the Sailors. Things get further complicated with the fact that Shaffner pitched yesterday, a 4-1 win over New York, and will likely be on the mound Thursday in Cleveland so he will not go against the Sailors. Barrell, who has had some minor back issues, will get an extra day or two of rest so he won't be available for the Cleveland series but is expected to start in Philadelphia. That means added pressure for Mike Murphy, who has won 4 straight but is just 12-12 on the year and ex-Gotham cast-off Curly Jones, who has looked great at times in Brooklyn, but very poor on other occasions.

The Sailors will have their ace William Jones (18-6, 2.89), who with Cleveland's struggles recently is likely Shaffner's biggest competition for the Allan Award, ready to go against Brooklyn on the weekend. Jones did not factor in the decision but pitched Thursday in a loss to Cleveland in what was the first time the Sailors lost with Jones on the mound since July 11th. He will likely get the call Monday against the Cougars and then pitch Saturday in the second game of the set vs Brooklyn, possibly against Tom Barrell.

Cleveland meanwhile has gone into a free-fall dropping 7 of their last 9 but perhaps their slim pennant hopes were salvaged because the two games they did win last week came against the front-running Sailors. Cleveland has Brooklyn this week and then another showdown with Philadelphia for 3 games starting September 24th.

QUICK HITS

Hall of Famer Max Morris hit his 711th career home run and hit over .400 for the week as he winds down his legendary career. With Detroit facing a barrage of righthanded starting pitching last week, rookie Red Johnson just started 1 game. Johnson went 2-3 with 2 walks in the 4-3 10 inning loss against New York. Look for Johnson to get a few more swings in the last 3 weeks.
How is this for a great Max Morris stat? Our Chicago bureau reports on who is the active career ERA leader in the FABL right now? Is it William Jones? Tom Barrell? Dean Astle? Rabbit Day? Nope... Max Morris! He's the only active qualified arm with a sub 3 (2.82) FABL ERA
It wasn't until this season--his age-42 season--that Max Morris was a below average (OPS+ or wRC+ below 100) hitter. Keystones Rankin Kellogg is just 34, and he will likely finish below average this season.
Congrats to Al Wheeler (.303,26,106) on career HR #300 and join Morris and Kellogg as the only players to accomplish that feat. Wheeler hit 3 homers last week and has 5 in September after hitting just 4 in Jluy/August combined. The milestone 300th came off of Montreal's Dick Parker in a 9-0 Brooklyn win. It was Wheeler's third homer in 8 career at bats vs Parker. The pitcher Wheeler victimized the most is Jim Lonardo of the Gothams, against whom he has hit 8 homers. He also has 7 against Doc Newell of the Sailors and might face Newell again this weekend.
Nice to see the Sailors organization giving David Merchant an opportunity to leave the game with the organization he had so many great years for. The 37 year old, who was released by the Chicago Chiefs last month, recently signed a minor league deal with the Sailors, for whom he had played all but 16 of his 1781 career FABL games. Merchant who won 2 Whitney Awards and was a key piece on a pair of Sailors World Championship teams, has hit just .182 in 7 games at Class A Peoria but the Sailors have added him to their 40 man roster and will call him up for the remainder of the month. Merchant had previously announced this will be his final season of professional baseball. He has 2053 career hits and perhaps if the Sailors clinch the Continental Association pennant early enough will get an opportunity to try and add to that total.
The Boston Minutemen are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Mike Lee was fabulous in his FABL debut going 8 strong and scattering 5 hits. Lee allowed Bobby Montefusco the chance to pick up the save and lower his ERA to 0.72 on the season in a 2-1 win over the Keystones in Philadelphia. With a 1.5 game lead in an amazingly tight FA race the Minutemen return home for a pair against Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. With 20 games left in the season the Boston faithful are gearing up for an epic finish.
With 2 off days this week, the Chiefs will skip Charlie Bingham in the rotation. Bingham was 10-3 at the end of June. Since then, he has a 2-10 record. And with Al Miller (17-10, 3.13) having pitched yesterday, and with no Ron Coles due to injury, it means the Jack Beach (13-10, 3.63) will join Rabbit Day (17-10, 3.38) as the starters in the big Boston series this week. After the Ron Coles injury, rookie Bob Walls was looking really overwhelmed in taking over for Coles (Walls has a 1-4 record with a 5.40 ERA). And so veteran left hander Red Hampton--who won 17 games for the Chiefs in 1934--was brought in from Fort Wayne. Hampton has responded with one of the best stretches of his career: in 6 starts, he is 4-2 with a 3.27 ERA.
Detroit has 29 wins after the all-star break--the Chiefs and Miners each have 29 also. The best post all-star record in either association belongs to Washington--at 37-23 they just edge out the Sailors at 36-24. Washington is trying to overcome a terrible first half of the season, something that would have been easier if the Eagles exclusively played the Philadelphia Keystones, against whom the Eagles are 16-4 on the year.
The Eagles strong second half means they may finish over .500 for the first time since 1927... Too bad starting pitchers Bill Anderson (5-13, 5.95) and Jack Elder(3-9, 5.29) have had awful seasons. Anderson is especially disappointing after going 22-14 last year. Eddie Quinn (16-14, 4.51), who like Anderson began his career with Toronto, has been very solid and rookie Bobo White (11-12, 4.83) is picking up steam as the season progresses but the big story on the Washington mound is Karl Johnson (19-7, 3.53). The 29 year old has already surpassed his career high for wins and is looking like the ace the Eagles had hoped Anderson would be this year.
Of course a FABL leading 766 runs scored certainly helps the Washington pitching staff out. Six Washington regulars are hitting over .300 led by Mel Carrol's (.408,22,107) pursuit of .400 and an outstanding year from 30 year old outfielder Moxie Pidgeon (.344,24,102).
Trouble in the St Louis clubhouse? Rookie Jim Ray Clark comes up and wins four of his first five decisions. His personality says: He is a leader in the clubhouse. Managers and players love his positive influence in the clubhouse. So it's obvious what this should mean to the team. OOTP says hold up...just to make it interesting we are going to make this man a disruptive influence on the team and he is rumoured to be feuding with fellow starting pitcher David Abalo.
Since August 1st Detroit is 23-16, since August 8th they are 22-11. The Dynamo’s, barring a complete collapse, should be able to avoid 100 losses. If they can go 9-9 they will get to 60 wins. Detroit management was really hoping for 65 but that would take a 14-4 finish so that is looking out of reach. The odds will be tough though as Detroit only has 3 games left at Thompson Field and 15 on the road where they are just 16-46 (.258). Detroit is also just a half game behind the New York Gothams for 7th place as they attempt to avoid their 3rd straight last place finish.
Move over Sal Pestilli. The Clem Bliss era is underway in Detroit. The 25 year old catcher was just called up from AAA Newark and proceeded to hit .364 with his first career FABL homerun. Bliss, who came over from Pittsburgh during the off-season had played 30 FABL games with the Miners prior to the trade.
23 year old righthander Stumpy Beaman made his FABL debut this past week for Detroit in a losing effort against the Gotham 4-3 in 10 innings. Beaman went the distance 9.2 innings but gave up a RBI game-winning single to Ed Reyes. Beaman did walk 5 in the outing but the last walk to led off the bottom of the 10th was his undoing. He gave up 6 hits on the day.
Beaman will likely be joined in Detroit this week by SP Karl Wallace who came over in the same trade with him from the Chicago Cougars.
Age is just a number for Dick Lyons this year, as the 37-year-old defeated both the Foresters and Sailors this week to improve to 13-4 on the season. In year 11, Lyons has an impressive 3.69 ERA (113 ERA+) and 1.22 WHIP with 33 walks and 41 strikeouts. He's been on the wrong side of 30 most of his career, and has won 99 of his 147 after turning 30.
Lloyd Stevens is starting to put together the stats that affirm his lofty prospect ranking (12th on OSA list). He is 17-9 with a 4.06 ERA on the mound and slashing .295/.344/.443 as a part-time 3B for Class A Allentown. The 21 year old was a third round pick of the Keystones in 1934 out of Suffolk High School in Virginia.
The Rochester Rooks continue to lead Newark by two games in the Union League. The Rooks, AAA affiliate of Brooklyn, are bidding for their fourth consecutive Union League crown. Two other Brooklyn affiliates are also vying for a title. Class C Marshalltown has a 3 game lead on Burlington in the UMVA and the Kings/Sailors have a duel going in class B as well as for the Continental Association title. Tampa and Miami are tied for top spot in the Southeastern League and go head to head for 4 games this weekend at the Cigar Kings Park in Tampa.

SCOUTING THE 1938 DRAFT CLASS
PART TWO: CORNER INFIELDERS

There is no highly touted power hitter like Red Johnson or Walt Messer were in recent drafts but there should be some decent talent available for teams looking for a solid hitting corner infielder.

ROY BOSWORTH: 3B 16 Mariana (AR) High School

Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, which is the birthplace of Rankin Kellogg and 1934 first round pick Adam Mullins. Defense is the name of the game with Bosworth as OSA feels he is one of the best defensive High School infielders in the nation. He hit just .446 as a junior - his first season of high school ball - with only 12 extra base hits so teams will be wanting to see an improvement in that area.

FRANK BUNCH JR: 1B 17 Port Jervis (NY) High School

There are several sons of former big leaguers in this draft including Bunch, who's dad played 169 games for the Gothams in the early 1920s. Junior is said to have decent strike zone judgement and very advanced ability to make contact. He hit .515 last season which was 25th out of over 800 high school players but you have to wonder if Bunch will develop the power to play first base at a high level. He homered just once in each of his two seasons and his .732 slugging percentage was just 130th best among high schoolers last year.

WALT KNIGHT: 1B 17 South HS, Youngstown, OH

We have to question what OSA sees in the 17 year old Erie, Pennsylvania native. Knight is just a career .437 hitter over 3 seasons of high school ball and has a .674 career slugging percentage with just 2 homers in each of his 3 seasons. OSA feels he can be a second division starter with a solid batting average but TWIFB staffers feel he will need to show a lot this season to remain on this list of top players.

BILL NEIL: 3B 20 Cumberland University, Hometown Memphis, TN.

The second Memphis born third baseman on this list is a rarity as he is the first college player we have seen so far. He actually had a better freshman season (.292,9,50) then the numbers he put up as a sophomore (.268,6,34) but his forte is his work with the glove. While he hasn't shown it yet OSA feels he will develop above average contact potential and more than his share of walks.

HERB RHODES: 1B 16 Washington HS, Portland, OR

There was another Portland born first baseman who garnered a lot of attention a couple of years ago but for Rhodes the comparisons to Red Johnson end there. OSA does feel that Rhodes has shown some signs of raw power after hitting 5 homers last season in his first year of high school ball. They love his hustle and feel he can be a solid big league hitter. Portland has been a bit of a pipeline for talent of late with Boston third baseman Art Spencer and young Pittsburgh shortstop Les Tucker also hailing from the Rose City.

DANNY RICHARDSON: 17 1B/3B/OF Elgin (IL) High School

Versatility is a big selling point on Richardson who can also play centerfield as well as first base. OSA likes his swing, and while he won't set records, he could be a .330 hitter with an above average eye. Has a cannon from third base which helps make up for his limited range defensively. Numbers have been very consistent all 3 seasons of high school ball including a .480 average last season. His .569 on base percentage was among the top 50 high school players in the nation last season.

While not on the OSA shortlist also worth looking at is Maury Campbell who was a HS All-American last year. The 17 year old who hails from Decatur, Illinois - the home of Al Wheeler -certainly does not have Wheeler's power but his 3 year batting average at Decatur High is .510 and his .520 mark a year ago was 20th best in the entire high school ranks. OSA is not very high on Campbell, calling the 17 year a bubble prospect at best.

Pete Frisbie, a AIAA first team All-American, is another player that OSA regards pretty lightly. The 20 year old Los Angeles native hit .340 with 9 homers in 59 games for Gates University last season. His batting average was the fourth highest in the nation and his homers tied him for 10th in that category. Despite the lack of endorsement from OSA, TWIFB is very high on Frisbie and a big season next year might boost him into the top 32.

Next time we will take a look at the top middle infield prospects.

The Week That Was
Current events for the week ending 9/12/1937

An unidentified attacker bombed a British steam ship carrying refugees off the coast of Gijon, Spain.
Soviets threaten to act against Italy as pirate submarines continue to attack shipping traffic in Mediterranean.
Britain and France pool fleets in effort to end submarine pirate attacks in the Mediterranean but Italy and Germany decline invitation to attend conference discussing plans.
With Italy and Russia on the verge of a diplomatic rupture, Adolph Hitler backs Italians, telling Nazi Congress Russia is a red menace to the world.
President Roosevelt acknowledges China-Japan crisis and "submarine piracy" has Americans nervous but he pledges the he will do everything in his power to "keep us out of war."
New York Stock exchange plunges, dropping over $2 billion in one day and down nearly $10 billion since mid-March.

07-06-2021, 01:03 PM	#192
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	This Week in Figment Baseball: September 13, 1937 THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL September 13, 1937 CHAMPS CLIMB BACK UP FROM CANVAS The Chicago Chiefs have shown the gritty determination of a World Championship prize fighter as they have recovered from what some observers felt was a devastating haymaker in the form of a 7-16 run to start the month of August. However, the champs got back up off the canvas by winning 11 of their last 15 games and are back to within a game and a half of first place in the Federal Association. The Chiefs had been on fire for nearly a full calendar year starting in late June a year ago when Pete Layton and Rabbit Day joined the fold. Those two helped carry the club through one of the best second halves in Federal Association history and then they rolled over Brooklyn in the World Championship Series. That pattern of dominance continued this season as they began the 1937 campaign with a 31-13 record. However when the temperatures heated up in the summer the Chiefs suddenly got ice cold, winning just 19 of 51 contests starting with a July 2-4th sweep at the hands of St Louis. Just over 2 weeks ago, on August 29th the Chiefs had fallen 7 and a half games off the pace and were reeling after absorbing a 3 game sweep at the hands of Washington and with the second place Pittsburgh Miners and front-running Boston Minutemen heading to Whitney Park things could have been fatal for the Chiefs hopes of defending their title. Instead, a game Chicago team regained it's feet with a dramatic 3-2 come from behind walk-off win over Pittsburgh. Pinch-hitter Len Jones would be the hero on that late August afternoon as he delivered a dramatic pinch-hit two-run single with one out in the bottom of the ninth but it was also the effort of Day, going the distance while allowing 2 Pittsburgh runs on 6 hits to improve his record to 14-10, that picked up the Chiefs. Chicago would beat Pittsburgh the next day as well, and then take 3 straight from Boston. Now as the temperatures are cooling with autumn in the air, there is also a air of confidence in the Chicago Chiefs who, following a 5-2 week, are now just a game and a half back of first place Boston with two games coming up between the two foes starting Tuesday at Cunningham Field. The work is far from done for Chicago as these next 9 games really are the season for the Chiefs. They are all on the road, 2 with Boston, 3 with Pittsburgh, and 4 with two clubs against whom we have losing records: Philadelphia and Washington. It is the Minutemen who are feeling the pressure now as Boston dropped 3 straight over the weekend and have won just 4 of their last 10 ballgames. Below is a look at the Fed pennant race as of August 29th and today. Starting with that August 29th win over Pittsburgh Rabbit Day is back to the pitcher that went 15-1 in the second half of the season for Chicago a year ago. Day has pitched 4 complete games, winning all 4 with a 2.00 era. His stretch actually goes back further than that as Day has gone the distance and won each of his last 6 starts. Pete Layton and Ron Rattigan, two key pieces of the Chicago attack have also been on fire of late and are making it hard for anyone to bet against the Chiefs getting back to the World Championship Series. The fact that the Pittsburgh Miners are still in the race is a testament to their depth. Injuries just keep coming and the Miners take them in stride and keep on rolling along. Sandy Grabow (.279,4,31) is the latest and this one really hurts as Pittsburgh just shifted Grabow to shortstop a week ago after Les Tucker went down for the year. With those two down for the count it might be a good time for an enterprising young lad to get his resume into Fitzpatrick Park, as the Miners might just be that desperate for shortstop help down the stretch. It has been just a brutal year for the previously very healthy Grabow. He missed a month in May with an elbow injury and then just after returning to the lineup he sprained his thumb and missed much of July and August. Now this week he hurt his thumb again and is done for the year. Imagine what the Miners might have done had they been healthy all year. The defending Continental Association champions from Brooklyn may also be back in the race. Brooklyn appeared all but out of the race after a 17-24 stretch over the summer that coincided with hot stretches from Cleveland and Philadelphia - their two main competitors for the pennant. On the morning of August 18th the Kings were 8 and a half games back of Cleveland with the Sailors in second place, 2.5 games behind the front-running Foresters. Brooklyn was also without it's two best pitchers in Tom Barrell and Joe Shaffner, but since that date the Kings have won 17 of 25 games while Cleveland has gone 7-17 and Philadelphia has posted a 13-11 record. Barrell and Shaffner are both back for Brooklyn but with mixed results. Barrell, who has won the last 3 CA Allen Awards, is back but clearly not 100% having dropped his last 2 starts while posting an 8.53 era in the process. On the other hand Shaffner is 4-0 with 3 shutouts and a 0.25 era to improve his season totals to 17-3, 2.47 and ignite talk that the 33 year old 3-time All-Star may finally win his first Allan Award. There is much work left for Brooklyn to do in order to catch Philadelphia and it begins with a key five game stretch this week when Brooklyn heads to Cleveland for 3 games followed by two in Philadelphia against the Sailors. Things get further complicated with the fact that Shaffner pitched yesterday, a 4-1 win over New York, and will likely be on the mound Thursday in Cleveland so he will not go against the Sailors. Barrell, who has had some minor back issues, will get an extra day or two of rest so he won't be available for the Cleveland series but is expected to start in Philadelphia. That means added pressure for Mike Murphy, who has won 4 straight but is just 12-12 on the year and ex-Gotham cast-off Curly Jones, who has looked great at times in Brooklyn, but very poor on other occasions. The Sailors will have their ace William Jones (18-6, 2.89), who with Cleveland's struggles recently is likely Shaffner's biggest competition for the Allan Award, ready to go against Brooklyn on the weekend. Jones did not factor in the decision but pitched Thursday in a loss to Cleveland in what was the first time the Sailors lost with Jones on the mound since July 11th. He will likely get the call Monday against the Cougars and then pitch Saturday in the second game of the set vs Brooklyn, possibly against Tom Barrell. Cleveland meanwhile has gone into a free-fall dropping 7 of their last 9 but perhaps their slim pennant hopes were salvaged because the two games they did win last week came against the front-running Sailors. Cleveland has Brooklyn this week and then another showdown with Philadelphia for 3 games starting September 24th. QUICK HITS Hall of Famer Max Morris hit his 711th career home run and hit over .400 for the week as he winds down his legendary career. With Detroit facing a barrage of righthanded starting pitching last week, rookie Red Johnson just started 1 game. Johnson went 2-3 with 2 walks in the 4-3 10 inning loss against New York. Look for Johnson to get a few more swings in the last 3 weeks. How is this for a great Max Morris stat? Our Chicago bureau reports on who is the active career ERA leader in the FABL right now? Is it William Jones? Tom Barrell? Dean Astle? Rabbit Day? Nope... Max Morris! He's the only active qualified arm with a sub 3 (2.82) FABL ERA It wasn't until this season--his age-42 season--that Max Morris was a below average (OPS+ or wRC+ below 100) hitter. Keystones Rankin Kellogg is just 34, and he will likely finish below average this season. Congrats to Al Wheeler (.303,26,106) on career HR #300 and join Morris and Kellogg as the only players to accomplish that feat. Wheeler hit 3 homers last week and has 5 in September after hitting just 4 in Jluy/August combined. The milestone 300th came off of Montreal's Dick Parker in a 9-0 Brooklyn win. It was Wheeler's third homer in 8 career at bats vs Parker. The pitcher Wheeler victimized the most is Jim Lonardo of the Gothams, against whom he has hit 8 homers. He also has 7 against Doc Newell of the Sailors and might face Newell again this weekend. Nice to see the Sailors organization giving David Merchant an opportunity to leave the game with the organization he had so many great years for. The 37 year old, who was released by the Chicago Chiefs last month, recently signed a minor league deal with the Sailors, for whom he had played all but 16 of his 1781 career FABL games. Merchant who won 2 Whitney Awards and was a key piece on a pair of Sailors World Championship teams, has hit just .182 in 7 games at Class A Peoria but the Sailors have added him to their 40 man roster and will call him up for the remainder of the month. Merchant had previously announced this will be his final season of professional baseball. He has 2053 career hits and perhaps if the Sailors clinch the Continental Association pennant early enough will get an opportunity to try and add to that total. The Boston Minutemen are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Mike Lee was fabulous in his FABL debut going 8 strong and scattering 5 hits. Lee allowed Bobby Montefusco the chance to pick up the save and lower his ERA to 0.72 on the season in a 2-1 win over the Keystones in Philadelphia. With a 1.5 game lead in an amazingly tight FA race the Minutemen return home for a pair against Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. With 20 games left in the season the Boston faithful are gearing up for an epic finish. With 2 off days this week, the Chiefs will skip Charlie Bingham in the rotation. Bingham was 10-3 at the end of June. Since then, he has a 2-10 record. And with Al Miller (17-10, 3.13) having pitched yesterday, and with no Ron Coles due to injury, it means the Jack Beach (13-10, 3.63) will join Rabbit Day (17-10, 3.38) as the starters in the big Boston series this week. After the Ron Coles injury, rookie Bob Walls was looking really overwhelmed in taking over for Coles (Walls has a 1-4 record with a 5.40 ERA). And so veteran left hander Red Hampton--who won 17 games for the Chiefs in 1934--was brought in from Fort Wayne. Hampton has responded with one of the best stretches of his career: in 6 starts, he is 4-2 with a 3.27 ERA. Detroit has 29 wins after the all-star break--the Chiefs and Miners each have 29 also. The best post all-star record in either association belongs to Washington--at 37-23 they just edge out the Sailors at 36-24. Washington is trying to overcome a terrible first half of the season, something that would have been easier if the Eagles exclusively played the Philadelphia Keystones, against whom the Eagles are 16-4 on the year. The Eagles strong second half means they may finish over .500 for the first time since 1927... Too bad starting pitchers Bill Anderson (5-13, 5.95) and Jack Elder(3-9, 5.29) have had awful seasons. Anderson is especially disappointing after going 22-14 last year. Eddie Quinn (16-14, 4.51), who like Anderson began his career with Toronto, has been very solid and rookie Bobo White (11-12, 4.83) is picking up steam as the season progresses but the big story on the Washington mound is Karl Johnson (19-7, 3.53). The 29 year old has already surpassed his career high for wins and is looking like the ace the Eagles had hoped Anderson would be this year. Of course a FABL leading 766 runs scored certainly helps the Washington pitching staff out. Six Washington regulars are hitting over .300 led by Mel Carrol's (.408,22,107) pursuit of .400 and an outstanding year from 30 year old outfielder Moxie Pidgeon (.344,24,102). Trouble in the St Louis clubhouse? Rookie Jim Ray Clark comes up and wins four of his first five decisions. His personality says: He is a leader in the clubhouse. Managers and players love his positive influence in the clubhouse. So it's obvious what this should mean to the team. OOTP says hold up...just to make it interesting we are going to make this man a disruptive influence on the team and he is rumoured to be feuding with fellow starting pitcher David Abalo. Since August 1st Detroit is 23-16, since August 8th they are 22-11. The Dynamo’s, barring a complete collapse, should be able to avoid 100 losses. If they can go 9-9 they will get to 60 wins. Detroit management was really hoping for 65 but that would take a 14-4 finish so that is looking out of reach. The odds will be tough though as Detroit only has 3 games left at Thompson Field and 15 on the road where they are just 16-46 (.258). Detroit is also just a half game behind the New York Gothams for 7th place as they attempt to avoid their 3rd straight last place finish. Move over Sal Pestilli. The Clem Bliss era is underway in Detroit. The 25 year old catcher was just called up from AAA Newark and proceeded to hit .364 with his first career FABL homerun. Bliss, who came over from Pittsburgh during the off-season had played 30 FABL games with the Miners prior to the trade. 23 year old righthander Stumpy Beaman made his FABL debut this past week for Detroit in a losing effort against the Gotham 4-3 in 10 innings. Beaman went the distance 9.2 innings but gave up a RBI game-winning single to Ed Reyes. Beaman did walk 5 in the outing but the last walk to led off the bottom of the 10th was his undoing. He gave up 6 hits on the day. Beaman will likely be joined in Detroit this week by SP Karl Wallace who came over in the same trade with him from the Chicago Cougars. Age is just a number for Dick Lyons this year, as the 37-year-old defeated both the Foresters and Sailors this week to improve to 13-4 on the season. In year 11, Lyons has an impressive 3.69 ERA (113 ERA+) and 1.22 WHIP with 33 walks and 41 strikeouts. He's been on the wrong side of 30 most of his career, and has won 99 of his 147 after turning 30. Lloyd Stevens is starting to put together the stats that affirm his lofty prospect ranking (12th on OSA list). He is 17-9 with a 4.06 ERA on the mound and slashing .295/.344/.443 as a part-time 3B for Class A Allentown. The 21 year old was a third round pick of the Keystones in 1934 out of Suffolk High School in Virginia. The Rochester Rooks continue to lead Newark by two games in the Union League. The Rooks, AAA affiliate of Brooklyn, are bidding for their fourth consecutive Union League crown. Two other Brooklyn affiliates are also vying for a title. Class C Marshalltown has a 3 game lead on Burlington in the UMVA and the Kings/Sailors have a duel going in class B as well as for the Continental Association title. Tampa and Miami are tied for top spot in the Southeastern League and go head to head for 4 games this weekend at the Cigar Kings Park in Tampa. SCOUTING THE 1938 DRAFT CLASS PART TWO: CORNER INFIELDERS There is no highly touted power hitter like Red Johnson or Walt Messer were in recent drafts but there should be some decent talent available for teams looking for a solid hitting corner infielder. ROY BOSWORTH: 3B 16 Mariana (AR) High School Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, which is the birthplace of Rankin Kellogg and 1934 first round pick Adam Mullins. Defense is the name of the game with Bosworth as OSA feels he is one of the best defensive High School infielders in the nation. He hit just .446 as a junior - his first season of high school ball - with only 12 extra base hits so teams will be wanting to see an improvement in that area. FRANK BUNCH JR: 1B 17 Port Jervis (NY) High School There are several sons of former big leaguers in this draft including Bunch, who's dad played 169 games for the Gothams in the early 1920s. Junior is said to have decent strike zone judgement and very advanced ability to make contact. He hit .515 last season which was 25th out of over 800 high school players but you have to wonder if Bunch will develop the power to play first base at a high level. He homered just once in each of his two seasons and his .732 slugging percentage was just 130th best among high schoolers last year. WALT KNIGHT: 1B 17 South HS, Youngstown, OH We have to question what OSA sees in the 17 year old Erie, Pennsylvania native. Knight is just a career .437 hitter over 3 seasons of high school ball and has a .674 career slugging percentage with just 2 homers in each of his 3 seasons. OSA feels he can be a second division starter with a solid batting average but TWIFB staffers feel he will need to show a lot this season to remain on this list of top players. BILL NEIL: 3B 20 Cumberland University, Hometown Memphis, TN. The second Memphis born third baseman on this list is a rarity as he is the first college player we have seen so far. He actually had a better freshman season (.292,9,50) then the numbers he put up as a sophomore (.268,6,34) but his forte is his work with the glove. While he hasn't shown it yet OSA feels he will develop above average contact potential and more than his share of walks. HERB RHODES: 1B 16 Washington HS, Portland, OR There was another Portland born first baseman who garnered a lot of attention a couple of years ago but for Rhodes the comparisons to Red Johnson end there. OSA does feel that Rhodes has shown some signs of raw power after hitting 5 homers last season in his first year of high school ball. They love his hustle and feel he can be a solid big league hitter. Portland has been a bit of a pipeline for talent of late with Boston third baseman Art Spencer and young Pittsburgh shortstop Les Tucker also hailing from the Rose City. DANNY RICHARDSON: 17 1B/3B/OF Elgin (IL) High School Versatility is a big selling point on Richardson who can also play centerfield as well as first base. OSA likes his swing, and while he won't set records, he could be a .330 hitter with an above average eye. Has a cannon from third base which helps make up for his limited range defensively. Numbers have been very consistent all 3 seasons of high school ball including a .480 average last season. His .569 on base percentage was among the top 50 high school players in the nation last season. While not on the OSA shortlist also worth looking at is Maury Campbell who was a HS All-American last year. The 17 year old who hails from Decatur, Illinois - the home of Al Wheeler -certainly does not have Wheeler's power but his 3 year batting average at Decatur High is .510 and his .520 mark a year ago was 20th best in the entire high school ranks. OSA is not very high on Campbell, calling the 17 year a bubble prospect at best. Pete Frisbie, a AIAA first team All-American, is another player that OSA regards pretty lightly. The 20 year old Los Angeles native hit .340 with 9 homers in 59 games for Gates University last season. His batting average was the fourth highest in the nation and his homers tied him for 10th in that category. Despite the lack of endorsement from OSA, TWIFB is very high on Frisbie and a big season next year might boost him into the top 32. Next time we will take a look at the top middle infield prospects. The Week That Was Current events for the week ending 9/12/1937 An unidentified attacker bombed a British steam ship carrying refugees off the coast of Gijon, Spain. Soviets threaten to act against Italy as pirate submarines continue to attack shipping traffic in Mediterranean. Britain and France pool fleets in effort to end submarine pirate attacks in the Mediterranean but Italy and Germany decline invitation to attend conference discussing plans. With Italy and Russia on the verge of a diplomatic rupture, Adolph Hitler backs Italians, telling Nazi Congress Russia is a red menace to the world. President Roosevelt acknowledges China-Japan crisis and "submarine piracy" has Americans nervous but he pledges the he will do everything in his power to "keep us out of war." New York Stock exchange plunges, dropping over $2 billion in one day and down nearly $10 billion since mid-March. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports