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Jiggs McGee · 07-07-2021, 12:41 PM

THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL

September 20, 1937

WHAT A RACE!

The Federal Association has been a dogfight all season and things got even tighter this week as the Pittsburgh Miners overtook the slumping Boston Minutemen for first place but the Philadelphia Keystones and Chicago Chiefs are hot on their heels. Despite being riddled with injuries and using a patchwork middle infield of rookie Ben Edwards and light hitting backup Johnny Guzzo, the Miners have remained in the race throughout the season and now take over top spot after winning 7 of their last 8 games. The rookie Edwards (.366,2,18) has been on fire of late, after being thrust into a starting role with injuries to Sandy Grabow and Les Tucker but he is far from the only Miner who has stepped up. Henry Jones is hitting .385 with 11 homers in the 48 games since he came over from Detroit for a 9th round draft pick at the trade deadline. Pitchers Charlie Stedman (18-14, 3.40) and Lefty Allen (19-12, 3.13) have each found another gear in September as well, combining to go 7-2 on the month and Allen came within one pitch of a no-hitter against Boston recently.

The pennant, which would be the Miners first since 1924, is still far from secure as the Keystones and Chiefs sit just 1 game back. All three of them, and Boston as well, better watch out as the hottest team in FABL since the All-Star break is the Washington Eagles. The Eagles are still 5 and a half games back but have gone 48-25 since July 1st and just benefited from two outstanding outings from Bill Anderson (7-13, 5.38). Anderson was expected to lead an Eagles team that would contend for the pennant this season but, after going 22-14 a year ago, he got off to a 4-12 start and was a big reason the Eagles were 16 games under .500 at the end June. Hot pitching, or rather a top pitcher living up to expectations is also why the Chicago Chiefs are back in the race after seemingly out of it just a few weeks ago. Rabbit Day had a decidedly un-Rabbit Day like start to the season but has won his last 7 starts and the Chiefs are on a roll. In Philadelphia the pitching has been surprisingly consistent but the Keystones strength has always been their offense and the big bat of Rankin Kellogg (.256,17,74) is finally going after struggles early in the season caused some to wonder if the 34 year old was perhaps on a downward spiral.

Speaking of spirals, it is the Boston collapse that draws the most attention for as good as the Minutemen were in the first half of August, they have been equally inept the past few weeks. It is almost unfathomable that Boston was 5 and a half games ahead of second place Pittsburgh just 22 days ago but now find themselves in fourth place after an 8 game losing streak. Boston is certainly not out of the race but they need a reversal of fortunes almost immediately although there is concern that young ace Dick Higgins is worn out. Higgins missed over a year with an injury but won his first 6 decisions when he returned in late June and gave the team life. However, Higgins seems to have hit a wall with 2 straight losses and 4 in his last 6 outings. Higgins got shelled by Chicago in his last start and couldn’t survive the 5th inning in a 13-6 pounding.

With just 4 wins in their last 16 games the Cleveland Foresters are trending in the same direction in the Continental Association as their counterparts from Boston are in the Fed. Brooklyn, led by another shutout from from veteran pitcher Joe Shaffner, swept 3 from the Foresters last week and the Kings are suddenly even with the Philadelphia Sailors for top spot in the CA. Shaffner (18-3, 2.36) has gone 6-0 with 3 earned runs allowed since returning from his injury. Not a 3.00 era, but just 3 earned runs allowed in 57 innings or a 0.47 era! Curly Jones (11-7, 3.61) and Mike Murphy (14-12, 3.60) are also pitching very well but all is not rosy on the Brooklyn mound as Tom Barrell lost again and is 2-3 with a 6.57 era since he came back in August after missing more than 2 months. The Kings have lost just 4 games in their last 18 contests and 3 of them were ones that Barrell started.

Brooklyn has made up 6 games on the Sailors since September 2nd but looking at the next two weeks the schedule does seem to favour Philadelphia slightly. The Kings play 10 of their final 13 games on the road although all but one are against second division clubs while the Sailors get to enjoy the confines of Sailors Memorial Stadium for 10 of their final 13. Philadelphia does have 6 games remaining with third place Cleveland.

QUICK HITS

Big series coming up in Pittsburgh as the first place Miners host Chicago for 3 games. The Chiefs swept Boston to briefly reclaim first, but slipped back with a couple of losses over the weekend. Before Chicago heads to Pittsburgh they need to try and slow down Washington as they finish a short two-game series with the Eagles today.
The Detroit Dynamos passed the sinking ship that is the Gothams despite a 2-4 week. The 2 wins were both over fading Boston including a 12 inning victory. 8 straight and 11 of last 12 have been losses for the Gothams. Boston has 3 vs New York starting Tuesday so somebody has to win those games. Maybe that will get Minutemen back on track.
So what has gone so terribly wrong in Boston after they were so dominant just a few weeks ago? For starters Dick Higgins seems to have hit a wall but some key bats have also gone cold. Lead off man Pete Day is still hitting but 2-3 hitters Chick Donnelly and Ken Mayhugh are batting a combined .154 over the 8 game losing streak.
The Keystones had a solid 5-1 week, sweeping 3 against Detroit, splitting with the Chiefs, and defeating the Gothams on Sunday. Kellogg is picking a good time to perk up with a 3 homer week (.368-3-5).
Gothams need 4 wins to avoid their first 100 loss season. 95 is the record for futility by a Gothams club as the 1905 team stumbled to a 58-95 finish but avoided last place because the Keystones lost 97 that year. The last time the Gothams lost at least 93 games was 31 years ago. There only other 90 loss season was 1929 when they went 62-90.
Brooklyn's Curly Jones notched his first career shutout when he blanked Cleveland 4-0 on a 5-hitter last week. The former first overall choice in the 1932 draft has 11 wins on the season, one shy of his personal best set as a rookie when he went 12-6 for the Gothams in 1935.
Looks like Cougars pitcher Dave Rankin might lose 20 games again this season. The 31 year old has dropped 3 straight decisions and 4 of his last five to fall to 14-19 on the year. Rankin has led the CA in losses each of the past 2 seasons including last year when he finished with a 16-22 record.
The torch has been passed as Max Morris turns first base over to Red Johnson in Detroit. It was quite week for the young slugger who homered twice and is hitting .381 in his 7 games in the big leagues. The 1935 second overall pick (behind Deuce Barrell) made his first big league homer one to remember as it was a first inning grand slam off of Philadelphia Keystones starter Frank Crawford. For those counting Johnson is now 709 homers shy of Morris' record 711 but it should be noted Morris hit just 1 homer while still a teenager. Johnson has 2 and counting with 10 more days until his 20th birthday.
For the second year in a row we have seen 12 hitting streaks of at least twenty games in duration. Hitting streaks certainly seem to be on the upswing this decade as we also had at least 10 such streaks in 6 of the last 8 seasons. Frank Vance of Brooklyn has the most recent streak - a 24 gamer that ended yesterday. The longest streak of the year is 26 games while was done by both Montreal's Adam Mullins and John Lawson of the Cougars. The record remains 47 games set by Toronto's Rich Rowland in 1900.
The AAA Rochester Rooks clinched their fourth straight Union League title. The Century League race will go down to the wire after Indianapolis beat Toledo 5-1 yesterday. The Hoosiers, a Baltimore affiliate, are 1 game back of the Gothams' Toledo club, and the two finish the season out with a pair of games in Indy. The Hoosiers also won the pennant last season. San Francisco's run of two straight titles will come to an end in the Great Western League. Independent Portland has clinched at least a tie for top spot as they lead Los Angeles, a New York Stars affiliate, by 2 games with 2 to play.

SCOUTING THE 1938 DRAFT CLASS
PART THREE: MIDDLE INFIELDERS

There usually is a deep crop of quality shortstops and second baseman available and the expectation is the 1938 draft will be no different. Here are the players OSA feels have the potential to crack the top 32 and take control of their own fate by being part of the elite group that gets a say in their destination.

JOE BISHOP: 2B/3B/SS/OF 17 Allderdice HS, Pittsburgh, PA

It's been a while but there used to be a pretty good tradition of quality middle infielders coming out of Pittsburgh. The best of whom were Gil Hice, who played primarily for the Cougars at the turn of the century, 19th century Brooklyn Kings star Albert Davis and Davey Kincaid, who starred for the Chiefs in the early days of FABL. Since then we have not seen a lot of talent come out of the city but Joe Bishop has a chance to change that. He is not exceptional at any one facet of the game but according to OSA he does everything well. Plus eye, okay swing, decent contact hitter and an average defensive second baseman.

HENRY BUSH: 2B/SS 20 Daniel Boone College, Hometown Sheffield, AL

The 20 year old showed some power last season with 8 homers in just 43 AIAA games. His .283 average puts him middle of the pack but he does have great speed and has shown promising pitch recognition skills. There are some concerns about his ability to handle off-speed stuff but OSA feels he can be a solid second division starter. Bush reminds us an awful lot of Daniel Boone College alum Jim Parmelee, who was selected by Detroit in the 4th round of the 1935 draft. Detroit also took a former Frontiersman by the name of Harry Bull with their second round selection in 1934, but he never panned out and is now on a reserve roster in the Lone Star Association.

HERB CAREY: 2B/3B/OF 17 West Point (VA) High School

Herb Carey can hit. He has a .536 career batting average thru three seasons at West Point High School and despite having the lowest total (.524) of his career last season as a junior he was still an honourable mention for the High School All-American team. He did earn All-American status as a freshman when his .547 average was second only to Ted Brown, a 1936 third round pick of Montreal, among infielders. Described as very smart on the base paths, has a smooth swing, quick hands and good pitch recognition skills as well as he is considered a leader.

HUB KELLY: SS/2B/3B 17 New Albany (OH) High School

Kelly went to high school in New Albany but was born in Dayton, a city which has had a pretty solid recent history of producing high draft picks. In 1935 it was Bill Van Ness, a catcher who went in the first round to Boston. The following year Dayton born Northern Mississippi University product pitcher Jack Clements was Toronto's second round selection and last year Felix Anderson, an outfielder, went to Washington with the 8th overall pick. OSA feels Kelly will be next in line and calls him an above average, everyday big league player. He did have a fair drop off in his stats last season compared to his debut year as a high school sophomore so I would think a big year is a must for Kelly to get into the lottery portion of the draft.

HOWARD RIVERS: 2B/SS/OF 17 Brandeis HS, New York, NY

A high school All-American last season as a junior, the 17 year old is projected to hit for a high average and play quality defense. He has put up some really strong numbers as a three year starter for his high school club, averaging .534 in 66 career games and was second in the nation among high school players with a .552 average last season. Rivers has a baseball pedigree as well. His cousin John Rivers is a 29 year old minor league infielder in the Brooklyn Kings system.

SPENCER SMALL: SS/2B 20 Brooklyn Catholic University, Hometown Joliet, IL

OSA is pretty high on the 20 year old, who is a very athletic shortstop. He is called an advanced hitter but OSA is likely looking for an improvement on his .297/.385/.438 slash line in his junior season. Four Brooklyn Catholic players were drafted last season headed by pitcher Preacher Pietsch, who went 5th overall to the Chicago Cougars.

WILLIE WEISS: SS/2B 17 Monroeville (OH) High School

Weiss seems like more of a project that a finished piece but OSA feels with his improving pitch recognition and ability to make consistent contact he has the potential to be a second division starter. Weiss was born in Detroit but grew up in the town of Monroeville, Ohio which sits about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland. He is a three year starter on his high school club but his numbers don't stand out, at least not enough in TWIFB's opinion to warrant inclusion in the top 32 next June. Of course a big senior season could change that thought very quickly.

Also worth noting are a few players that OSA is not as high on but have put up some solid numbers. High School All-American Verlin Alexander out of Lexington, Missouri has shown some improvement in each of his 3 seasons. Pascal Lefreniere who was honourable mention All-American as a sophomore out of Rabouin High School in New Orleans but took a step back last year. A couple of college middle infielders to keep an eye on are Frank Hill of Talmadge State, who was an AIAA second team All-American at shortstop last season while Snipe Ellison was first team All-American two years ago at Eastern State but did not quite play at that level last season.

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

Britain more than doubles it's war ship presence in the Mediterranean to 90 ships, and London says Italians man the pirate submarine.
US Maritime officials work swiftly to carry out an embargo ordered by President Roosevelt on arms shipments to China and Japan as the war in the Far East continues to wage in and around Shanghai.
A crowd of 600,000 Nazis cheer as Hitler's army displayed it's might in a mock combat in Nuremburg. Meanwhile Pope Pius wants Austrian Catholics that their religious rights, as well as those of German Catholics are endangered by Nazi "anti-Church policies."
Spain demands the League of Nations name Germany and Italy aggressors in Spain and force an end to their intervention on behalf of insurgents in the Spanish Civil War.
Brooklyn-Manhattan public transit executives turn down Mayor LaGuardia's plea to mediate the dispute with their employees setting the stage for a mass transit strike that would create havoc in New York City.

07-07-2021, 12:41 PM	#193
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	This Week in Figment Baseball: September 20, 1937 THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL September 20, 1937 WHAT A RACE! The Federal Association has been a dogfight all season and things got even tighter this week as the Pittsburgh Miners overtook the slumping Boston Minutemen for first place but the Philadelphia Keystones and Chicago Chiefs are hot on their heels. Despite being riddled with injuries and using a patchwork middle infield of rookie Ben Edwards and light hitting backup Johnny Guzzo, the Miners have remained in the race throughout the season and now take over top spot after winning 7 of their last 8 games. The rookie Edwards (.366,2,18) has been on fire of late, after being thrust into a starting role with injuries to Sandy Grabow and Les Tucker but he is far from the only Miner who has stepped up. Henry Jones is hitting .385 with 11 homers in the 48 games since he came over from Detroit for a 9th round draft pick at the trade deadline. Pitchers Charlie Stedman (18-14, 3.40) and Lefty Allen (19-12, 3.13) have each found another gear in September as well, combining to go 7-2 on the month and Allen came within one pitch of a no-hitter against Boston recently. The pennant, which would be the Miners first since 1924, is still far from secure as the Keystones and Chiefs sit just 1 game back. All three of them, and Boston as well, better watch out as the hottest team in FABL since the All-Star break is the Washington Eagles. The Eagles are still 5 and a half games back but have gone 48-25 since July 1st and just benefited from two outstanding outings from Bill Anderson (7-13, 5.38). Anderson was expected to lead an Eagles team that would contend for the pennant this season but, after going 22-14 a year ago, he got off to a 4-12 start and was a big reason the Eagles were 16 games under .500 at the end June. Hot pitching, or rather a top pitcher living up to expectations is also why the Chicago Chiefs are back in the race after seemingly out of it just a few weeks ago. Rabbit Day had a decidedly un-Rabbit Day like start to the season but has won his last 7 starts and the Chiefs are on a roll. In Philadelphia the pitching has been surprisingly consistent but the Keystones strength has always been their offense and the big bat of Rankin Kellogg (.256,17,74) is finally going after struggles early in the season caused some to wonder if the 34 year old was perhaps on a downward spiral. Speaking of spirals, it is the Boston collapse that draws the most attention for as good as the Minutemen were in the first half of August, they have been equally inept the past few weeks. It is almost unfathomable that Boston was 5 and a half games ahead of second place Pittsburgh just 22 days ago but now find themselves in fourth place after an 8 game losing streak. Boston is certainly not out of the race but they need a reversal of fortunes almost immediately although there is concern that young ace Dick Higgins is worn out. Higgins missed over a year with an injury but won his first 6 decisions when he returned in late June and gave the team life. However, Higgins seems to have hit a wall with 2 straight losses and 4 in his last 6 outings. Higgins got shelled by Chicago in his last start and couldn’t survive the 5th inning in a 13-6 pounding. With just 4 wins in their last 16 games the Cleveland Foresters are trending in the same direction in the Continental Association as their counterparts from Boston are in the Fed. Brooklyn, led by another shutout from from veteran pitcher Joe Shaffner, swept 3 from the Foresters last week and the Kings are suddenly even with the Philadelphia Sailors for top spot in the CA. Shaffner (18-3, 2.36) has gone 6-0 with 3 earned runs allowed since returning from his injury. Not a 3.00 era, but just 3 earned runs allowed in 57 innings or a 0.47 era! Curly Jones (11-7, 3.61) and Mike Murphy (14-12, 3.60) are also pitching very well but all is not rosy on the Brooklyn mound as Tom Barrell lost again and is 2-3 with a 6.57 era since he came back in August after missing more than 2 months. The Kings have lost just 4 games in their last 18 contests and 3 of them were ones that Barrell started. Brooklyn has made up 6 games on the Sailors since September 2nd but looking at the next two weeks the schedule does seem to favour Philadelphia slightly. The Kings play 10 of their final 13 games on the road although all but one are against second division clubs while the Sailors get to enjoy the confines of Sailors Memorial Stadium for 10 of their final 13. Philadelphia does have 6 games remaining with third place Cleveland. QUICK HITS Big series coming up in Pittsburgh as the first place Miners host Chicago for 3 games. The Chiefs swept Boston to briefly reclaim first, but slipped back with a couple of losses over the weekend. Before Chicago heads to Pittsburgh they need to try and slow down Washington as they finish a short two-game series with the Eagles today. The Detroit Dynamos passed the sinking ship that is the Gothams despite a 2-4 week. The 2 wins were both over fading Boston including a 12 inning victory. 8 straight and 11 of last 12 have been losses for the Gothams. Boston has 3 vs New York starting Tuesday so somebody has to win those games. Maybe that will get Minutemen back on track. So what has gone so terribly wrong in Boston after they were so dominant just a few weeks ago? For starters Dick Higgins seems to have hit a wall but some key bats have also gone cold. Lead off man Pete Day is still hitting but 2-3 hitters Chick Donnelly and Ken Mayhugh are batting a combined .154 over the 8 game losing streak. The Keystones had a solid 5-1 week, sweeping 3 against Detroit, splitting with the Chiefs, and defeating the Gothams on Sunday. Kellogg is picking a good time to perk up with a 3 homer week (.368-3-5). Gothams need 4 wins to avoid their first 100 loss season. 95 is the record for futility by a Gothams club as the 1905 team stumbled to a 58-95 finish but avoided last place because the Keystones lost 97 that year. The last time the Gothams lost at least 93 games was 31 years ago. There only other 90 loss season was 1929 when they went 62-90. Brooklyn's Curly Jones notched his first career shutout when he blanked Cleveland 4-0 on a 5-hitter last week. The former first overall choice in the 1932 draft has 11 wins on the season, one shy of his personal best set as a rookie when he went 12-6 for the Gothams in 1935. Looks like Cougars pitcher Dave Rankin might lose 20 games again this season. The 31 year old has dropped 3 straight decisions and 4 of his last five to fall to 14-19 on the year. Rankin has led the CA in losses each of the past 2 seasons including last year when he finished with a 16-22 record. The torch has been passed as Max Morris turns first base over to Red Johnson in Detroit. It was quite week for the young slugger who homered twice and is hitting .381 in his 7 games in the big leagues. The 1935 second overall pick (behind Deuce Barrell) made his first big league homer one to remember as it was a first inning grand slam off of Philadelphia Keystones starter Frank Crawford. For those counting Johnson is now 709 homers shy of Morris' record 711 but it should be noted Morris hit just 1 homer while still a teenager. Johnson has 2 and counting with 10 more days until his 20th birthday. For the second year in a row we have seen 12 hitting streaks of at least twenty games in duration. Hitting streaks certainly seem to be on the upswing this decade as we also had at least 10 such streaks in 6 of the last 8 seasons. Frank Vance of Brooklyn has the most recent streak - a 24 gamer that ended yesterday. The longest streak of the year is 26 games while was done by both Montreal's Adam Mullins and John Lawson of the Cougars. The record remains 47 games set by Toronto's Rich Rowland in 1900. The AAA Rochester Rooks clinched their fourth straight Union League title. The Century League race will go down to the wire after Indianapolis beat Toledo 5-1 yesterday. The Hoosiers, a Baltimore affiliate, are 1 game back of the Gothams' Toledo club, and the two finish the season out with a pair of games in Indy. The Hoosiers also won the pennant last season. San Francisco's run of two straight titles will come to an end in the Great Western League. Independent Portland has clinched at least a tie for top spot as they lead Los Angeles, a New York Stars affiliate, by 2 games with 2 to play. SCOUTING THE 1938 DRAFT CLASS PART THREE: MIDDLE INFIELDERS There usually is a deep crop of quality shortstops and second baseman available and the expectation is the 1938 draft will be no different. Here are the players OSA feels have the potential to crack the top 32 and take control of their own fate by being part of the elite group that gets a say in their destination. JOE BISHOP: 2B/3B/SS/OF 17 Allderdice HS, Pittsburgh, PA It's been a while but there used to be a pretty good tradition of quality middle infielders coming out of Pittsburgh. The best of whom were Gil Hice, who played primarily for the Cougars at the turn of the century, 19th century Brooklyn Kings star Albert Davis and Davey Kincaid, who starred for the Chiefs in the early days of FABL. Since then we have not seen a lot of talent come out of the city but Joe Bishop has a chance to change that. He is not exceptional at any one facet of the game but according to OSA he does everything well. Plus eye, okay swing, decent contact hitter and an average defensive second baseman. HENRY BUSH: 2B/SS 20 Daniel Boone College, Hometown Sheffield, AL The 20 year old showed some power last season with 8 homers in just 43 AIAA games. His .283 average puts him middle of the pack but he does have great speed and has shown promising pitch recognition skills. There are some concerns about his ability to handle off-speed stuff but OSA feels he can be a solid second division starter. Bush reminds us an awful lot of Daniel Boone College alum Jim Parmelee, who was selected by Detroit in the 4th round of the 1935 draft. Detroit also took a former Frontiersman by the name of Harry Bull with their second round selection in 1934, but he never panned out and is now on a reserve roster in the Lone Star Association. HERB CAREY: 2B/3B/OF 17 West Point (VA) High School Herb Carey can hit. He has a .536 career batting average thru three seasons at West Point High School and despite having the lowest total (.524) of his career last season as a junior he was still an honourable mention for the High School All-American team. He did earn All-American status as a freshman when his .547 average was second only to Ted Brown, a 1936 third round pick of Montreal, among infielders. Described as very smart on the base paths, has a smooth swing, quick hands and good pitch recognition skills as well as he is considered a leader. HUB KELLY: SS/2B/3B 17 New Albany (OH) High School Kelly went to high school in New Albany but was born in Dayton, a city which has had a pretty solid recent history of producing high draft picks. In 1935 it was Bill Van Ness, a catcher who went in the first round to Boston. The following year Dayton born Northern Mississippi University product pitcher Jack Clements was Toronto's second round selection and last year Felix Anderson, an outfielder, went to Washington with the 8th overall pick. OSA feels Kelly will be next in line and calls him an above average, everyday big league player. He did have a fair drop off in his stats last season compared to his debut year as a high school sophomore so I would think a big year is a must for Kelly to get into the lottery portion of the draft. HOWARD RIVERS: 2B/SS/OF 17 Brandeis HS, New York, NY A high school All-American last season as a junior, the 17 year old is projected to hit for a high average and play quality defense. He has put up some really strong numbers as a three year starter for his high school club, averaging .534 in 66 career games and was second in the nation among high school players with a .552 average last season. Rivers has a baseball pedigree as well. His cousin John Rivers is a 29 year old minor league infielder in the Brooklyn Kings system. SPENCER SMALL: SS/2B 20 Brooklyn Catholic University, Hometown Joliet, IL OSA is pretty high on the 20 year old, who is a very athletic shortstop. He is called an advanced hitter but OSA is likely looking for an improvement on his .297/.385/.438 slash line in his junior season. Four Brooklyn Catholic players were drafted last season headed by pitcher Preacher Pietsch, who went 5th overall to the Chicago Cougars. WILLIE WEISS: SS/2B 17 Monroeville (OH) High School Weiss seems like more of a project that a finished piece but OSA feels with his improving pitch recognition and ability to make consistent contact he has the potential to be a second division starter. Weiss was born in Detroit but grew up in the town of Monroeville, Ohio which sits about halfway between Toledo and Cleveland. He is a three year starter on his high school club but his numbers don't stand out, at least not enough in TWIFB's opinion to warrant inclusion in the top 32 next June. Of course a big senior season could change that thought very quickly. Also worth noting are a few players that OSA is not as high on but have put up some solid numbers. High School All-American Verlin Alexander out of Lexington, Missouri has shown some improvement in each of his 3 seasons. Pascal Lefreniere who was honourable mention All-American as a sophomore out of Rabouin High School in New Orleans but took a step back last year. A couple of college middle infielders to keep an eye on are Frank Hill of Talmadge State, who was an AIAA second team All-American at shortstop last season while Snipe Ellison was first team All-American two years ago at Eastern State but did not quite play at that level last season. The Week That Was Current events for the week ending 9/12/1937 Britain more than doubles it's war ship presence in the Mediterranean to 90 ships, and London says Italians man the pirate submarine. US Maritime officials work swiftly to carry out an embargo ordered by President Roosevelt on arms shipments to China and Japan as the war in the Far East continues to wage in and around Shanghai. A crowd of 600,000 Nazis cheer as Hitler's army displayed it's might in a mock combat in Nuremburg. Meanwhile Pope Pius wants Austrian Catholics that their religious rights, as well as those of German Catholics are endangered by Nazi "anti-Church policies." Spain demands the League of Nations name Germany and Italy aggressors in Spain and force an end to their intervention on behalf of insurgents in the Spanish Civil War. Brooklyn-Manhattan public transit executives turn down Mayor LaGuardia's plea to mediate the dispute with their employees setting the stage for a mass transit strike that would create havoc in New York City. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 07-07-2021 at 12:48 PM.