THIS WEEK IN FIGMENT BASEBALL
April 4, 1938 - Spring Training
NO PANIC IN CHICAGO DESPITE CHIEFS SLOW START
Spring training is always full of ups and downs that typically level out once the games begin for real in April. Fans of the New York Stars should not be dreaming of a return to the first division for their club for the first time since 1934 just because the Stars are tied for the best record in the Continental Association after two weeks of spring games. A similar message is ringing out of Whitney Park calling for calm and saying the Chicago Chiefs horrid 3-10 start to spring means nothing in the big picture.
"No worries in Chicago," preaches Chiefs bench boss Joe Ward. "A lot of the runs being given up by the pitching staff have been by arms that will not be going north with the club. Lonardo and Miller have been great. Day had 2 good starts, 1 clunker. Bird hit another home run last week."
That line of thinking certainly makes sense as most clubs are carrying close to a dozen players that will not get a sniff of a big league ballpark this season so results are very much skewed. It is interesting how fans and team managers are so quick to cherry pick the positive information and playdown any negative trends just as Ward did in the quote above with his praise for catcher Tom Bird. Don't get me wrong, Bird is an exceptional ballplayer and possibly the best catcher in the league right now but if Ward deflects his pitching staff's struggles by stating the woes are for the most part confined to players who will end up in AAA then must the same grain of salt not be applied when talking about how Tom Bird leads the majors with 5 homers. We are not singling out Ward here as every skipper does the same but rather just noting how self-filtering the view might be when wearing spring training blinders.
QUICK TOUR AROUND THE LEAGUE
Here are some notes on what is happening with each of FABL's 16 ballclubs this week.
BALTIMORE CANNONS-Rufus Barrell, who has been considered the future of baseball in Baltimore ever since he was selected first overall in the 1935 draft, looks like he might be major league ready judging by his first two spring starts. Deuce gave up 2 runs on 3 hits over 4 innings in losing his spring debut 2-1 to the New York Stars and was even better in his second appearance: limiting the Cleveland Foresters to 2 hits while tossing 4 shutout innings in a 7-2 Cannons win on Thursday. The Cannons have given no indication either way on where Barrell, who split last season between Class B and A, ends up but they certainly have an opening in their rotation following the dealing of John Edwards to Boston.
BOSTON MINUTEMEN- While much of the focus in Boston is on how the rotation will look with newcomer Edwards joining Dick Higgins at the top it would be wise not to overlook Ed Wood. The 29 year old lefthander won 20 games two years ago but slipped to 13-17 last season. Wood began the spring with 2 very solid outings and was not too bad in his third start despite surrendering a 3-run homer to the Chiefs Tom Bird. If Boston is going to come out on top this year in what should be a very tight Federal Association race they will need each of their big 3 pitchers rolling.
BROOKLYN KINGS- John Kincaid looks like he might find new life in Brooklyn after the Kings picked up the 33 year old infielder off the free agent scrap heap a couple weeks before camp began. Kincaid is likely going to start the season at second base with John Langille expected to miss the first week or two recovering from a broken finger. The defending WCS champs should also be very happy with the spring lead-off man Bill May is having. The 25 year old center fielder saw his production dip last season but has come to camp with a great mindset and is one of the hardest workers on the roster. The same optimism is not in place for catcher Fred Barrell. While his defense has never been questioned, Barrell saw his batting average dip by almost 100 points over the previous season and is in an awful funk right now with just 1 hit in 29 spring at bats.
CHICAGO CHIEFS- Tom Bird is the talk of camp and with good reason. The 30 year old catcher has 5 homers and 10 rbi's to go along with a .333 batting average in 8 spring games. He has hit over .300 each of the past three seasons and added power to his repertoire last year with 24 round-trippers. It is hard to argue with OSA who ranks Bird as the top catcher in the game.
Newcomer Jim Lonardo has looked very good in spring action but there may be some concerns about Jack Beach, who has had a rough start. The back-end of the Chiefs staff will get plenty of scrutiny this season as they did lose some depth by moving a couple of pitchers to Detroit to add infielder Hank Barnett over the winter.
CHICAGO COUGARS- The Cougars won 4 of 6 games this week to improve their spring mark to 6-7. The good news in Chicago is the bats started to heat up, especially Ray Ford, who followed up a strong first week with a 8-for-13 week. He doubled three times, homered, scored three times, and drove in four. Carlos Montes was 7-for-16 with a triple, homer, run, two steals, and two RBI's. Leo Mitchell was 7-for-15 with a pair of solo homers while Ivan Cameron was 3-for-10 with a double, two homers, and 4 RBI's.
CLEVELAND FORESTERS- The Foresters had a rough week dropping 5 of 6 games and at 5-8 are now 7th amongst CA teams this spring. The good news is catcher T.R. Goins is having a solid start to the spring which hopefully indicates the 37 year old can rebound from a down season (at least by his lofty standards) last year. Another aging veteran who is relied on heavily to provide offense in 39 year old Charlie Berry. Berry's averaged slipped to .313 a year ago - his lowest season total since 1927 but the Foresters feel he still has plenty to give the club this season.
DETROIT DYNAMOS- There is plenty to look forward to for Detroit fans this season. Red Johnson hopes to be this year's dominant rookie following in the footsteps of Sal Pestilli. Johnson is having a nice start to the spring and will be the everyday first baseman in a much improved infield that also includes veteran trade acquisitions Ed Stewart (.263,23,101 for Pittsburgh last year) at second and ex-Keystone Frank LeMieux (.315,2,79) manning the hot corner. Shortstop might just end up being the domain of rookie Gil London as the 23 year old who was acquired from the Philadelphia Sailors over the winter is having a great camp. Add in an outfield that features Pestilli and Leon Drake and there will be plenty of fireworks at Thompson Field this summer.
MONTREAL SAINTS-Finally some positive momentum for the Saints, who won their last two games after opening the Grapefruit schedule with a 1-10 record. Long time minor leaguer Nellie Dawson is making a bid to stick with the Saints after starting the spring with a .370 batting average. It has been a long road filled with plenty of time in the minors for Dawson, who was selected 13th overall by the Saints back in 1929 but has just 86 big league at bats on his resume.
NEW YORK GOTHAMS- Bud Jameson is certainly not the player he once was but the 34 year old first baseman may have some value off the bench. The longest tenured active Gotham hit 3 pinch-hit homers in the first 2 weeks of spring. Manager Ed Ziehl, now a Hall of Famer, says Jameson will see action with the club this year.
"Bud still can hit lefties so he’ll play some. Dick Canfield looks to have won the battle for first shot on the long side of a platoon. He’s hit for a good average through the minors until he got to Toledo." The Gothams organization had tried to get him to add some power to his game and it messed up his swing. A couple of weeks ago Ziehl told him, “Don’t worry about homers kid, just go hit.” It’s worked so far this spring.
NEW YORK STARS- Thanks to some pretty solid pitching the Stars find themselves tied with Baltimore and Brooklyn for the best spring record among CA teams. Vets Les Zoller and Harry Carter have pitched well but the real surprise so far has been the showing of a trio of youngsters who spent most of last season in AAA. 24 year old Glenn Payne, who spent a little time with the big club last year, along with a pair of 23 year old's in Frank Gordon and Vern Hubbard are all pushing to stick with the big club. Hubbard, a 1932 fourth round pick, is the one who appears to have the highest ceiling of the three. He is presently listed as #34 on the OSA top prospect rankings.
PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES- The good: Third baseman George Wright is having a nice spring and looking to make fans forget about Frank LeMieux who was dealt to Detroit over the winter. The bad: three time Whitney Award winner Rankin Kellogg has just 1 extra base hit (a double) and is batting .250 after 29 spring plate appearances. A strong start from Kellogg is certainly needed in what promises to be a very difficult Fed race.
PHILADELPHIA SAILORS- Chuck Murphy, who the Sailors acquired from Detroit over the winter, had a tough return to the Continental Association. The former Brooklyn King got shelled in his spring debut, allowing 6 hits including a pair of homers and 8 runs against in an inning and a third vs Cleveland. He was a little better his second outing but there may be questions if he can fit it at the bottom of the Sailors rotation. The 28 year old righthander had a career year last season, posting a 14-16 record with a 3.78 era for the Dynamos.
PITTSBURGH MINERS- The Miners won the Fed last season despite playing quite a bit of baseball without Mahlon Strong or George Cleaves. If those two can stay healthy Pittsburgh will have quite an offense. Both are off to a great start this spring with Cleaves hitting .538 after two weeks and Strong batting .375 with 3 homers while he learns how to play first base. Strong's immense talent has never been the issue. The problem is keeping him healthy.
ST. LOUIS PIONEERS-With shortstop Ray Russell sidelined again it becomes even more important for second sacker Freddie Jones to stay healthy. That is easier said than done as Jones has missed close to 100 games over the past two seasons with various injuries. Earl Michael should step in nicely at shortstop in Russell's place but if Jones was to go down as well the Pioneers might have some issues. The Pioneers do have a surplus of starting pitching with 7 pitchers in camp who started at least 10 games last season. Sam Sheppard, David Abalo and Dixie Lee were the big three last year and Toronto newcomers Otis Cook and Jake Smith combined to win 30 games for the Wolves. And that is not even counting highly touted 23 year old Buddy Long, who came over with Cook and Smith in the Frank McCormick deal. Long has pitched well in a pair of brief outings this spring.
TORONTO WOLVES- Despite dealing a good chunk of their rotation to St Louis the future on the mound is looking pretty good for the Wolves. 25 year old Joe Hancock, a 20 game winner a year ago, remains the staff ace and has yet to allow a run in 15 spring innings. 22 year old Jim Morrison and 20 year old George Garrison, both former first round picks just like Hancock, are also enjoying solid springs and both might have a chance to head north with the club. Morrison is likely ready after splitting last season between AA and AAA but the Wolves should not overlook Garrison for promotion to the big club. He was 18-12 for AA Chattanooga last season and tossed 4 scoreless innings in his spring debut against Cleveland.
WASHINGTON EAGLES- The Eagles have once again made it known that they would be willing to part with 2B Andy Carter. The 32 year old two-time All-Star missed all but 1 game last season after blowing out his knee on Opening Day. Carter has looked solid in spring play and says the knee is fine but the Eagles seem focused on keeping 25 year old Johnnie Sundberg at second after he took over for Carter last year. Sundberg is younger and likely a better fielder but hard to part with Carter, who hit .359, or nearly 100 points above Sundberg's total last year, when Carter held the spot in 1936. Washington unsuccessfully attempted to shop Carter during the winter meetings but found no takers. Former fifth overall pick George Gilliard might be nearing the end of his rope in Washington. Now 27, the former top ten prospect has made just 5 big league starts in his career and is struggling in camp and likely to be sent back to AAA Kansas City. A myriad of injuries have derailed what once was a very promising career.
The Week That Was
Current events for the week ending 04/04/1938
- Vatican newspaper says that the Austrian Bishops' recent declaration to approve Nazism was made without consent of the Pope.
- Spanish insurgents are close to gaining control of electrical power for Barcelona while the Spanish Republic, after being overwhelmed in Aragon, attempts to half the insurgents advance at the Segre River in hopes of preventing the vital hydroelectric dams from falling into Francoist hands.
- President Roosevelt surrenders on government reform bill, the compromise gives power to Congress which now requires a simple majority, rather than two-thirds vote of both Houses to veto Presidential reorganization orders.
- US Oil companies feel "let down" after Washington agreed to continue talks with Mexico aimed at a friendly settlement over oil exportation. Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas signed an order last month expropriating the assets of nearly all foreign oil companies operating in Mexico.